Artist: Alkaline Trio
Album: Crimson
Tracks: 13
Label: Vagrant

You have to understand this one thing if you are to understand where I'm coming from with this review… I mentioned this in a previous review, but I received a degree in Alkaline Trio.  I've studied their songs and what makes them tick.  You see I really hate most bands and it's rare that I add a band into my secret society located in my car CD binder. 

Back in '99 when I first heard this band with "I Lied My Face Off", they immediately became one of my favorite bands.  It was punk, but so much more.  It was like what Weezer is to radio rock.  While it's still radio rock, no one even comes close to being that good.  Alkaline Trio is the same way.   Alkaline Trio is the Weezer of punk.  The songs are filled with memorable melodies and lyrics.  They basically sing entire sentences.  The vocal melodies have more in common with folk music than the shorter, more structured melody/lyrics of other rock bands.

 

But something happened since I first fell in love with Alkaline Trio six years ago.  Release after release, they kept writing the same songs, while dropping a major element that immensely helped their music in my mind – instrumental development.  Additionally, they also had no idea how to end a song.  Almost every song would eventually end with no change to the structure of the third chorus, and end with a chord ringing out while singing the last word.  The songs never progressed and I was afraid things were going the way of Weeer's Green album – good ideas that never develop. 

 

While they still were way better than all other bands, after each release, I was still left wanting.  Then came their last album, "Good Mourning".  It was a wreck.  Some of the songs were really good, but the album sounded like total crap.  I was happy with more minor key songs, but all the things that grew to bug me were all there.  But with the terrible vocal production, even with some good songs, it became annoying to listen to.

 

Now comes the new album.  Would this band progress?  Would it be the same record with a different name? 

 

I am happy to report that this isn't just another Alkaline Trio album.  They make an effort to not rehash old music.  Gone is most all the cussing.  Gone are the predictable references to alcohol (even though they are replaced with references to hell).  There are guitar elements introduced that aren't just added ear candy.  It really seems like they tried to mature this time around.

 

There's a couple minor elements that I didn't like so I'll get that out of the way. 

 

Octave vocal harmonies always bother me. 

 

This is also a good place to tell you that the ride cymbal and I are mortal enemies.  Their previous drummers, Glen and Mike, I don't think ever used the ride, but this new drummer uses it much to my dismay.  Ride cymbals on the chorus?  C'mon, it totally weakens the song.  Ride cymbal, oh how I hate thee. 

 

And regarding endings of songs, they seemed to at least attempt to end a couple songs differently than their typical, "Oh, I guess the song is over," technique but it still still saturates the album on seven songs.

 

Okay, with that out of the way, I can now focus on other things. 

 

Alkaline Trio is defined by the vocals.  Alkaline Trio has always been a crooner band to me.  Like punk rock Frank Sinatras.  On this release, Dan's voice sounds better – more rock.  Matt's voice is a little too laid back, without the edge. He seems to be conserving his voice by his technique and range. He still has an attractive and unique voice that makes you want to listen to the melodies.  His voice still is great but I would like some of the edge and range back.

 

The songs are basically all decent.  The album gets off to a quick and solid start, a couple generic songs, Sadie, then kind of meanders around till the end with decent songs.  It didn't blow me away, but it didn't disappoint me either.  I could have used way more minor key songs.  It's an Alkaline Trio album that I had hopes for, and they did enough to keep me interested.  I know that's not the resounding confirmation you might have been looking for, but it's Alkaline Trio, it's still better than most everything released this year.

 

So what appears on the record other than what we typically hear from them? 

 

On a couple songs Matt and Dan trade lead vocals, which is a great new idea.  This was only able to be pulled off because of the great vocal production causing them to blend well.  You'll hear piano on the record, and more than just thrown in there after the song was finished.  Some clean guitar, a wah pedal, harmonics.  Some strings and a little keyboard.  Before you think they've turned into euro-pop, it's nothing like that.  It's texturing, that's all, but I could have totally done without it.  They're trying to differentiate their songs some.  They're trying to add some variety to the record, which is something they sorely needed to do.

 

They did write one of their best songs ever called "Sadie" (which was actually on a split EP).  This song does everything right.  Good intro, great visual lyrics, and get this, there's an outro, not heard since the days of 1999.  It's this album's, "Radio" or "Crawl".  The rest of their songs are okay to good.  There's no real bad songs, but other than "Sadie" there's no real killer songs.  The overall album seems to lack just a little punch. 

 

The production is incredible.  I totally love it.  And that's not just cause the previous album was a production train wreck.  I have faith in producer Jerry Finn again.  Vocals, guitars, drums, mix all are great.  The mastering sounds wonderful too.

 

The songs, while are still Alkaline Trio, are not Alkaline Trio.  It's Alkaline Trio – trying to mature.  I like that because Alkaline Trio is like bacon.  It's great, but you just get sick of it if you eat it every day.

 

If you take it song by song, then this might not be their best album, but for me they did what they needed to do – mature and keep it fresh.