For an medium that takes most of its imagery from foil-darkened heroin dens, Alkaline Trio's "This Addiction" feels more same a sugar broad than an opiate.
The goth-tinted stripling band, credited for meliorate or worsened as one of emo's progenitors, long paired sly, cartoonishly bleak lyrics with downright chipper melodies. "Addiction" is its clearest activity of that instruction in years, and module remind a lot of consumer fans most singer Matt Skiba's songwriting strengths.
Alkaline Trio has never been as evil as they imagined, and their obsidian sheen has sometimes bogged down their tunes. Not so here: "Dead on the Floor" imagines Buddy Holly's sock-hop rock as a delicious romance-is-murder ballad, and "Eating Me Alive" drags up '80s-era Cure synths that could run your mascara from 100 yards away. "Dine, Dine My Darling" is a witty Misfits homage, appropriate for a band built on two-minute imbibe tunes most suicide and vampires.
The medium is a pointedly minimal production, though -- most tracks are simple guitar-bass-drum affairs with a some tasteful harmonies that put the surprisingly imperishable hooks up front.
Alkaline Trio may have a mouthful of purloined pills here, but Skiba's ness is dead in cheek on his band's best medium in years.
Alkaline Trio came up with indie labels same continent Man and Vagrant, but as the adornment brought the Vagrant lessen to term, it was pretty manifest that they would be pursuing another options, presumably of the major-label variety. Brief tenures on V2 and Epic followed, but both were as ill-fated as they were short-lived. Post-Epic, the adornment decided that the majors weren’t going to do anything momentous for the adornment and supported their possess Heart & Skull label, pairing up with Epitaph for distribution. The newborn opportunity prompted the time-honored return to basics, so after transcription their terminal pair of records in Los Angeles, the adornment returned to their old stomping grounds of metropolis to achievement This Addiction. Early sonic ally Matt Allison returned to the engineering lead and tracked the transactions at his Atlas Studios. As a long-time fan, it sounded beatific on paper, but the doubting Thomas in me was more than a little trepidatious when I threw this on.
The 12 songs of This Addiction are split 75/25 between Skiba and Danny tunes. That is pretty such the norm for the average Trio record, but offer for hook, it’s pretty manifest that Andriano needs some more shine on the next record. His threesome contributions are threesome of the best Trio songs in many years. The achievement opens with the denomination track, a Matty strain that tries a little likewise hornlike to insist the return to their old edifice metropolis sound. The descending chords are textbook Alkaline Trio, and its far from a intense tune, but blast of nostalgia aside, the strain comes off more than a little Skiba-by-numbers. Point duly asserted, the gents intend downbound to business with “Dine, Dine. My Darling”, a Danny strain that should rightfully be lambasted for trying likewise hornlike with its title, but more significantly digit that sports a sing-along troupe every bit as catchy as the Jersey titans it punningly pays homage to. It’s nice to hear the older, less layered beatific that made me want to hoist a pitcher or octad of Old Style backwards in the day, but inclined memories aside, ground Skiba decided it was a beatific idea to blatantly rehash Goddamnit evergreen “San Francisco” same he does on “Dead on the Floor” remains to be exposed. He’s called it ‘a not likewise distant cousin’ and let me tell you, he ain’t lying. There is no disputing that “SF” is/was a great strain and I’m such more in souvenir of him redaction digit of his possess tunes rather than move from somebody else, but its a tad brazen from where I’m listening. I same This Addiction more than I’ve liked an Alkaline Trio achievement since From Here to Infirmary, but there are a pair tracks that seem more than a little bit throwaway. Skiba postponed the promulgation of a newborn solo achievement so as not to entertainer the spotlight from This Addiction and it does make digit wonder if some more choice material has been reallocated.
Not that Skiba or Adriano have shied away from extra-curricular projects. Andriano plays in The Falcon with long-time cohort Brendan Kelly and helms his possess The Emergency Room project patch Skiba free his unabashed Joy Division/Sisters jocking project Heavens with their newborn partners at Epitaph and has that aforementioned solo achievement reaching downbound the pike through continent Man. While This Addiction is a return to the older Alkaline Trio sound, the gents certainly aren’t screening covers in their basement and having achievement mixture parties to intend the achievement out. The first azygos (also the denomination track) was free via a supposed organisation wherein fans would advertise the promulgation of the newborn achievement on their Twitter or Facebook pages, an act that would garner them admittance to a website streaming the track. Lovers of irony should join a companion program wherein fans should intend a 7” of the azygos only at Hot Topic. All of these things should do well in moving a nice number of units of This Addiction for Heart & Skull and keep the kids at Epitaph happy at the same time. It’s hardly the best of their continent Man days, but This Addiction is a solidified intermixture of their old and newborn sounds that is well worth a listen.
