TRACK LISTING
1. Time To Waste
2. The Poison
3. Burn
4. Mercy Me
5. Dethbed
6. Settle For Satin
7. Sadie
8. Fall Victim
9. I Was A Prayer
10. Prevent This Tragedy
11. Back to Hell
12. Your Neck
13. Smoke
Okay, first, this is an Alkaline Trio CD. So this CD still sounds like the Trio always sounded; a bit poppy and cheesy punkrock, with great lyrics and nice melodies. This is an excellent CD I have to say, even if it's not really what I was waiting for .. Just like too many other bands, they felt to the darkside of the lights and this CD is much more melancholic and dark than their previous releases, but keeping their cheesy style, that's doing a great mix overall anyway !
Time To Waste
This is the first single off from the album. This is such a great song. The piano notes kinda reminds me of something I already know, but I can't name it .. Anyway. Nice drumming job, great intensity. Not their best single ever, but it's still great ! "Eyes roll back turn white in time to feed, they salivate in hunger. For you and everything they need to make a death complete." You know what I meant when I said "darker" ? My note : 7.5/10
The Poison
One of my favorites. The guitar riff is simply nice. I just love the way Dan makes the Alkaline Trio songs sound better. The melody in this song is crazy. The chorus is highly addictive. Really poppy, it reminds me of some old Rock n' Roll sometimes .. Damn great. My note : 9/10
Burn
Slow song. Really slow. Not much to say about it, it fills the album I'd say. This song is really missing something I can't identify .. Ah yeah .. Power. Anyway. 6.5/10
Mercy Me
Another really poppy song. I love. The thing that makes Alkaline Trio so good to me is the way they put out poppy songs that sounds fuckin' great. "Oh, mercy me. God bless catastrophe!". This song really got the hook. 8/10
Dethbed
The first verse sounds like an old Disco record, then it turns to sort of a classic Emo pre-chorus, and the chorus bring us back to Pop-PunkRock. This song is kind of a great mix, that's great. The chorus melody is really great too. 7/10
Settle for Satin
Boah. Great, not awesome. Fits in. 6.6/10
Sadie
The most boring thing I've ever been allowed to hear, after Taking Back Sunday, for sure. This song is lame. 4/10.
Fall Victim
Fortunately, this song kick Sadie's butt away and bring us back to our main interest; PunkRock. This song is another really cheesy one, but it still sounds great. Maybe a little bit too slow, but you get used to it. 6.5/10
I Was A Prayer
Another one of my favorites. Lyrics are awesome. Everytime Dan"s singing, I can't stand remaining silent. I'd like to know the lyrics and sing along like a dumb everywhere in the house.The chorus is gorgeous. "I'm out the door with apathy but I'm coming home with sympathy". Damn great. 9/10
Prevent This Tragedy
First of all : Violins and PunkRock doesn't fit together. It just sucks. The chorus is really really sounding like "We've Had Enough" from their previous album. But anyway, the violin's intro made me puke and I missed the rest of the song, sorry ! Nice song though. 7/10
Back to Hell
This is MY song. Fast, intense, heavy rock title. Far the best of the album to me, even if The Poison is such a kick ass song ! 9/10
Your Neck
Not much to say about this one. Another blank filler ? That's good, but that's it. 6.5/10
Smoke
Monumental closer !!! This is awesome. Crazy synth job ! Sounds like an old classic rock you can't get out of your head. Excellent closer, as I said. 8/10
So, uh. The thing with the Trio is that all the songs kinda sound the same. Matt Skiba's songs are getting lame with time, it's sad. This CD is kinda splitted in two parts; Alkaline Trio Old & New .. You have some songs that are genius and some other are simply lame as a lot of Punk bands are tending to. I heard a lot of influences from the 80's and the 90's with Synth in "Smoke" or the melody of "The Poison", which is great. You see they worked hard on this album, maybe too hard I'd say. Actually, I feel the same way for Crimson that how I felt for Faso Latido (A Static Lullaby); such a great record, great musical improvement and good work on the voices, but this is not what I was waiting from these guys. You see ? Interesting fact : There's some video footage of the recording of the album on the CD, as an enhanced CD, that's kinda cool.