Agony And Irony - Alkaline Trio

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Great Catchy Songs !  Just Plain Alkaline Trio Awesomeness !
Disadvantages:	Makes You Sing Outloud Too much !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

WOOOO there back. Yes Alkaline Trio are back with there 6th Studio Album, Agony and Irony. This album has been talked about quite a lot and from the most reviews and blogs Ive seen very little good has come from them. Well guess what? NOT HERE! I think this album is absolutely brilliant and yet adds another tick to the awesome list of their albums. Alkaline Trio are one of the most well known bands for rock/punk music with a tint of depressing stories and events. Saying that though don't jump to the conclusion of "OH great! Slow gothic songs of depression" because even though most songs do have "dark" or "gothic" lyrics the songs themselves are catchy and upbeat and i guarantee certain songs on this album once heard you wont be able to get out of your head for ages! And I mean weeks at a time there that catchy.

Many have described this new album as a "break off" from there previous titles and i have to agree the sound of this album is very different but different isn't always bad is it? In my opinion no it isn't and i think Alkaline Trio are still going strong! The band has just signed with a brand new record company Epic records and have hired the help of a new producer Josh Abraham so maybe this is why the difference in previous albums is here. Maybe these two powers decided a change was needed to boost sales or maybe to show the range of talent these guys have, who knows? Who Cares? As long as great music is produced which i no doubt feel this album has achieved does it really matter?

Just to give some readers piece of mind, the music I'm into is ranged from rock to metal to even odd popish songs (Iv'e had I kissed a girl in my head for past 2 week :S) so naturally bands like Breaking Benjamin, Muse, Metallica, Iron Maiden and Soil are some of my favourite bands but i have a strange loving for ELO and other types of music. What I'm trying to get at is you don't have to be "pure" rock/punk to enjoy this album I would say many people out there would find this album quite unique and enjoyable to listen too no matter what type of genre they are into.

The Band

The band is made up from 3 members, these being Matt Skiba (guitar and vocals), Dan Andriano (bass and vocals) and Derek Grant (drums and back-in vocals). In previous albums Matt and Dan take turns in producing songs together and decide on which person is best suited to each song this tends to lead to a half and half situation where Matt will lend his vocals to 50% of the an albums songs while Dan will sing the other 50% of them. In Agony and Irony this doesn't happen as Matt sings 8 out of the 11 songs and Dan only Sings 3. Some fans may find this disheartening a little as both Matt and Dan have two very different voices and singing style so many fans may be disappointed of them slightly changing there structural ways.

The Songs

As mentioned above Alkaline Trios new album has 11 songs all together (not counting the bonus song if downloaded from I Tunes or the Second disk within 2CD set retail albums) and each one in my opinion is great. I also enjoy Love love, kiss kiss one of the albums least praised songs. I think this album is one of those where it grows on you the more times you listen to it. In my case I got hooked on the earlier songs of the album "Calling all skeletons" and "Help me" these two songs are two of the most catchiest ones on the album i literally had these two songs in my head for weeks the 1st time i heard the album. Due to listening over and over again to these two songs i dismissed the rest of the album for quite some time (not intentionally) but in the end went on to the rest of the album and found away (sorry for this) as one of the later songs on the album is in fact called "I found a way" this song is fast, upbeat and always manages to make you sing during the chorus i mean even now i have the urge to sing..... In fact i think i will "I found a way, over the fear and through the flames, I'm diving in don't follow me, stay right here ill be back for you someday, I found a way, It be best if you should stay, it's not safe don't follow me, I found a way! I found a way!" Each song on this album to me is perfect and I still think there new album is as good as thier earlier stuff. Here is the complete lists of songs on the album:

1. Calling All Skeletons
2. Help Me
3. In Vein
4. Over And Out
5. I Found A Way
6. Do You Wanna Know?
7. Live Young, Die Fast
8. Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss
9. Lost And Rendered
10. Ruin It
11. Into The Night

Overall Thoughts

OK I'm sure by reading my review you probably no my thoughts on this new album, yep I love it, I think it's as good as previous Alkaline Trio albums despite the big discussion of it being too far different from the original mold. I think this slight change to the music is good and in no way made Alkaline Trio any less awesome!

Coming from a perspective of an earlier Alkaline Trio fan who grew up with this music, i can see why they may be a bit cautious about this new album as it does indeed differ slightly than there original roots but hey I've been listening to this band for years now and i don't mind this step in another direction, I even enjoyed Crimson by Alkaline Trio (a similar album to this). All i can say to people is give it a chance listen to it more than once and i can tell you now Agony and Irony will grow on you and before long you will be slapping it onto you MP3 or Car CD player and singing at the top of your lungs getting funny looks of people :D. Trust me you wont even know you are doing it in the end.

I think Agony and Irony deserves full marks and I reward it with 5 stars! Well done Alkaline Trio!