Review Summary: Alkaline Trio further cement their legacy as pop-punk legends with the release of their second top notch b-sides album Remains
It was a pretty incredible feat when Alkaline Trio dropped a b-sides album that was on par with their work of the time with the release of
Alkaline Trio way back in 2000. It was even more impressive when they released
Remains, a b-sides album that's even better than the band's releases from around that time.
Remains flows even better and is less all over the place than
Crimson! Alkaline Trio outdid themselves with another stellar b-sides album which stands as an essential record for any pop-punk fan.
The songs on
Remains were recorded between 2000 to 2006 which gives the record some nice variety, with songs coming from different periods of the band's sound.
Remains sounds like the middle ground between old school and new school Trio records, which lets any type of Trio fan enjoy the *** out of it. With so much variety there's bound to be a few duds right? Well sort of, the bigger problem is that at 19 tracks,
Remains can be a chore to sit through. It's not that there are any bad tracks per say, it's just that burning through so many pop-punk songs in a row can be rather tiring. Because of the length,
Remains is a record that is best enjoyed over the span of a couple sittings.
The most impressive aspect of
Remains is how many classic Trio cuts it has. I'd take tracks like "Hell Yes," "Fine Without You," "Queen Of Pain," "Warbrain, "and "Old School Reasons" over pretty much any track off of
Crimson. And don't even get me started on tracks like "Jaked On Green Beers," with its incredibly fast and tight drumming; and of course "Dead End Road," with its heavenly octave chords and Matt Skiba's signature morbid yet hilarious lyrics. Overall,
Remains is surprisingly the band's most balanced record and has everything an Alkaline Trio fan could want: alcohol soaked depressing tunes disguised as upbeat pop-punk tunes.
