Top 20 Alkaline Trio
100/10 best new list |
| 1 |  | Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
This is Getting Over You - Dan sounds like he's being ripped to shreds on this song, and with his strong point always being emotion this is absolutely his peak. A dope tempo change halfway through moves the song from mopey territory into the most furious, heartfelt moment in their discog. "I'm not tired of getting over you" |
| 2 |  | Alkaline Trio
Goddamnit
Trouble Breathing - forever the greatest song Matt will ever write. Hilarious, heartbreaking, savage punk from the absolute rock bottom, with Matt's best lyrics and at his compositional peak. "Don't forget to let your life rot you inside out" |
| 3 |  | Alkaline Trio
From Here To Infirmary
Take Lots With Alcohol - some Dan fanboying coming up, but this is the most accurate portrayal of the first visit to a therapist ever put to tape, and only Dan could write it with such humility and honesty. "I see I'm boring you, well maybe I bore myself too/that's why I need help, I'm cleaning blood off dusty shelves/I've been cut up in this room so many times it might take days" |
| 4 | | Alkaline Trio
From Here To Infirmary
Another Innocent Girl - Dan fanboying [2]. these are the best lyrics Dan ever wrote and in one of the best songs. At this point in their discography Matt was already losing his touch a bit (although Good Mourning has some of his best, we'll get to that) while Dan's songs jumped in quality immensely from the already great stuff he gave us on the first two albums. From here on out, for me, Alkaline Trio is the Dan Andriano show with some Matt songs as padding. "He walks with a glass cane now he's careful/when holding his body up straight/can't go outside anymore when it's raining/can't smash up that beautiful face" |
| 5 |  | Alkaline Trio
Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Sleepyhead - might be the heaviest song Matt ever put to tape. The grinding limp of the instruments and Matt's straight up screams have less in common with punk than they do with early post-hardcore, but the viciousness of the verses and choruses is contrasted by one of the Trio's most beautiful moments in the bridge. "Nothin to see here but the rain/nothin to hold you but the flames" |
| 6 | | Alkaline Trio
Goddamnit
Cringe - hard to think of a better first-album opener than this, just 2 minutes of absolute fury and fucking ridiculous energy. "Even Christ himself would cringe at the sight of your scars" |
| 7 |  | Alkaline Trio
Good Mourning
One Hundred Stories - one of Dan's saddest songs, and the easy highlight on the album where he had the most vocal presence by far. Gorgeously dark and depressing. "I was getting bored with hurting myself/if you fall down enough, well soon enough you will find hell" |
| 8 | | Alkaline Trio
Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Fuck You Aurora - the best of three slower-tempo, "epic" (for lack of a better word) songs on Maybe I'll Catch Fire that signalled the Trio's early desire to move beyond their punk roots (Keep Em Coming and Radio being the other two). One of Matt's best vocal performances, and a rock solid mix of black humour and self-pity shit keeps the 5-minute runtime totally justified. "You have to be cutest gravedigger I've ever seen" |
| 9 |  | Alkaline Trio
Agony and Irony
In My Stomach - one of the most frustrating omissions from an Alkaline Trio album, this deep deep cut exemplifies the creepy carnival atmosphere of A&I better than any song that actually made it to the album. With the help of, of all people to appear on an Alk3 song, Ulver, one of Dan's most soul-searching narratives is paired with a spine-chilling guitar and strings combo that stays far away from gimmicky. "In this shadow I shrink/and it knows I can't move I can't sleep/terrified by my own bloodshot eyes" |
| 10 | | Alkaline Trio
Good Mourning
All on Black - probably Matt's peak from a melody perspective, this is also one of the best examples of the black comedy that would so soon disappear from his songs to be replaced with whiny emo shit. Before that began with Crimson, however, we have one of the catchiest, Halloweeniest jams in their discog. "Sweet blasphemy my giving tree, it hasn't rained in years/I bring to you this sacrificial offering of virgin ears" |
| 11 | | Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
Bleeder - just an iconic song in every way and one of the most massive choruses ever recorded. "I'm truly happy in my heart and in my head/a lonely liver suspended in liquid" |
| 12 |  | Alkaline Trio
This Addiction
Fine - a bright spot in the swamp that was their last two records, Fine sees Dan at his cleverest and, after pushing through some grim metaphors, ultimately happiest. Matter of fact if "and I wouldn't trade my hand, for all the aces in the deck/and I'm fine" had been the lines to close out their discography, I wouldn't have complained a fuckin' bit. |
| 13 |  | Alkaline Trio
Remains
Warbrain - a highly regarded deep cut, Warbrain sees Skiba pair some of his most powerful lyrics with an absolutely irresistible melody. Possibly the last great song he ever wrote? "When we'd hit the ground runnin on empty stories we've been told/and the nights we spent together never felt this fucking cold" |
| 14 | | Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
97 - the first Matt classic in their discography. Just absolutely massive. "I've got it now/a thorn in my side the size of a Cadillac" |
| 15 | | Alkaline Trio
Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Radio - this probably should've been higher, but I'm kind of sick it being everyone's #1 pick. Still one of the best album closers ever put to tape, however. "I've got a big fat fucking bone to pick" |
| 16 | | Alkaline Trio
Goddamnit
Sorry About That - speaking of closers, how about Trouble Breathing into this on Goddamnit? That is pretty goddamn unbeatable. Matt takes it acoustic and raw and gives it to us straight, without his usual defense of humour, for the first and best time. The results are heartbreaking. "We passed out in each other's arms/both admitting we'd never felt better, never felt more warm/but awoke in each other's eyes/without wearing a stitch of clothing, we were both deeply in disguise" |
| 17 | | Alkaline Trio
Good Mourning
Every Thug Needs a Lady - one of Dan's most sincere and genuine songs (from a guy who's never written anything but), Every Thug just radiates love and contentment from start to finish. As beautiful a tribute to a woman as has ever been written by a band of Satanists. "So go plug in your electric blanket/we can stay here till our southern summer wedding day" |
| 18 | | Alkaline Trio
Remains
If You Had a Bad Time - one of their strongest deep cuts and a song that really deserved a spot on Crimson (along with, like, every single Dan song that didn't make that album). If You Had a Bad Time pairs one of the Trio's most anthemic choruses with some patented Dan heartbreakers in the lyrics; the bridge rises above the rest of the song as one of the greatest moments in their discog. "It just sits on my shoulders, you're breaking my back/we get crazy with age now you're under my bed/and it's dark all the time" |
| 19 | | Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
Sundials - even if this wasn't one of the best early demos I've ever heard from any band, I'd probably still give it a spot on here just for the lyrics. "Day or night, fucked if I know/hard to tell through your fucking window" |
| 20 | | Alkaline Trio
Agony and Irony
Burned is the House - one of Dan's best lyrical efforts paired with as catchy and pop-punky a song as they have ever written. This is true Dan worship right here, folks. "If you cry me a river you could baptise me in/I'd say I guess that's it now I've fucking seen everything" |
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