Review Summary: Get drunk and reminisce about your exe's and the good times with Alkaline Trio.
This album, The Alkaline Trio, is actually a compilation of their early EP releases. The band at that point featured Matt Skiba on vocals and guitar, Dan Andriano on bass and vocals, and Glenn Porter on drums. The original bass player, Rob Doran, appears on tracks 11-13 here.
This compilation is probably my favorite release from them. The music still has a raw touch to it that has been gone from their sound since about 2005. I know that can probably be chalked up to a low recording budget and cheap gear, but the low quality sound, to me, goes really well with the lyrics of heartbreak and drunkenness. Matt has a good raspy yell going, which contrasts with Dan's deep, lispy croon. There's several instances where Dan's bass shines through the mix of sounds, which adds a more musically technical angle to the more or less average punk playing of Matt. Skiba is no guitar god, but he does what he can with the tunes he writes. On the Andriano sung songs, the guitar work gets a bit more flashy, but still stays pretty simple.
As has come to be expected from Alkaline Trio, most of the songs here are about heartbreak and alcohol. Song lyrics range from being able to let someone go (Goodbye Forever), to being wasted and talking to someone you like (Cooking Wine), to drug issues ('97 and Southern Rock). This era of Alkaline Trio is my personal favorite, as the songs they wrote then were more focused on the real world instead of Matt Skiba writing comically gory songs and Dan Andriano writing overly sentimental songs.
In short, this compilation is a very strong selection of tunes from the first years of a now legendary band. This is a great album to put on if you're going to be drinking, if you're feeling down, or if your woman or man has just left you and you're hitting an emotional bottom. My suggested songs are: Goodbye Forever, Bleeder, This is Getting Over You, Southern Rock, Cooking Wine, Nose Over Tail, and Sundials.
