r/AlkalineTrio

Up until a couple weeks ago, I only knew a handful of Alkaline Trio songs. I saw they were touring the UK and so decided to listen to every album multiple times. I chalked up just under 2,000 listens according to last.fm. The tour leg got cancelled but I figured I’d rank and review the albums so my listening binge wasn’t a total waste of time.

 

10. Agony and Irony (2008)

It seems a shame to start off with a negative review but I found this to be a really dull and kind of soulless album. The switch to a saccharine pop-rock style feels cynical and the songs have the sincerity of a band trying to jump onto the ‘in’ thing for the fourth or fifth time. They got away with it in the past by having songs strong enough to carry the fans with them, but they’re just not here. There’s no obvious single, no standout track. Every song is mid-paced and feels very safe. The most interesting thing about the album is just how sugary some of the songs get, with ‘Love Love, Kiss Kiss’ being just off the charts in this regard. It’s probably the only album on this list where there isn’t a single song I’d care to hear again.

 

9. This Addiction (2010)

This is a tricky album because I get what they wanted to do, but it just didn’t come off. There is clearly a concerted attempt to go ‘back to basics’ with the style. However, their inclinations towards stadium rock lead every other song back to the same tired structure, albeit with a bit more pace than on Agony. I think the opening two tracks are pretty good but it quickly devolves back into plodding rock songs laden with faux sentiment. Again, underneath it all, the song quality just isn’t there. Even a relatively strong ending in Dorothy and Fine aren’t enough to rescue the album from mediocrity. It’s a testament to the strength of the band’s earlier material and the widespread affection for it that they maintained a solid support throughout this period as I think it represents a real creative nadir.

 

8. Is This Thing Cursed? (2018)

I see this album as kicking off something of a late-career renaissance for AlkTrio. Not every song is to my style – the title track is a little theatrical, and the country vibe on ‘Little Help’ is a little corny – but at least it’s interesting. They’ve put effort into these songs, which are varied without being overwritten, and there’s some songs I really like among them. ‘Goodbye Fire Island’ just has great vibes and shows off how good the production is across this album. Krystalline is one of my favourite acoustic songs they’ve done and I love the energy Matt brings on it – much prefer Matt belting songs out over signing them nicely. What it lacks is a real banger of a song, which some of the albums ranked above it have, despite having more generic ‘album’ tracks. Even though it’s not my favourite album they’ve done, I appreciate the care and thought that clearly went into writing and producing this album after a prolonged period where I felt they were phoning it in a bit.

 

7. My Shame Is True (2013)

I think this album represents a clear improvement over whatever was going on previously, giving us a few more definitively punk rock songs and having a higher average quality across the songs. Among them, it produced two very good songs that presumably remain in tour rotation. ‘She Lied to the FBI’ is good for what it is, which is a fun but cheesy Ramones impersonation. However, for me, the standout track is ‘I Wanna Be a Warhol’, which is just a blast from the band’s own past. You could put that on Infirmary and it would sit alongside ‘Private Eye’ without embarrassing itself. However, there’s a bit of a slide into bad songwriting habits across the second side to this album, especially in songs like ‘Only Love’ and ‘One Last Dance’. Cut them and give me one more strong ‘single’ and this album would be sitting a lot higher.

 

6. Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024)

I was really surprised by how much I liked this album. For a band pushing 50, there’s a lot of energy across this record. ‘Hot for Preacher’ is a really good opener, with an especially catchy hook (‘boo hoo’). In fact, it has great hooks and motifs across it (‘Meet Me’s bridge, ‘Break’s “Godammit, I cannot get enough”, BH&E’s, “I never wanna see your MF face again”). ‘Broken Down in a Time Machine’ is an especially original song to be turning out at this stage of a career and it’s one of my favourite songs on the album. Some bits of the record I’m less keen on. I don’t understand why their ‘interlude’ is toward the end of the album rather than halfway, or why it begins with an haitch. Dan seems to also stumble into a weird Jamaican accent at times as well (“Ah see lats comin from deh doah down deh hall”), which I can’t seem to unhear. But these are minor gripes. Generally, this is an interesting and varied album resultant from a band invested in putting out quality material rather than just collecting inflated tour revenue while it lasts.

 

5. Good Mourning (2003)

I can see this being an unpopular ranking because this album coincides with their heyday. But I have a problem with this album. In fact, I have two. For me, the band were trying to find a new sound and identity on Infirmary, which is natural for a band finding their feet and looking to break through. However, I don’t like where they landed on Good Mourning. First, I’m not a fan of how pronounced the macabre themes become. To me, early AlkTrio lyrics were raw, personal and confessional, with a ‘dark’ edge to them. On this album, they took this ‘dark’ edge and made it their defining feature. Every song is overladen with metaphors about being a skeleton, or vampire, or bathing in seas of blood. It’s just silly to me. And that’s where the second issue comes in. I no longer feel that the songs are about real people, places or experiences, but are just lyrics written to align with their new brand. The album doesn’t feel authentic to me. Maybe that’s controversial, but it’s just how I feel about where they were going from this point onwards. The actual average quality of the song is decent, so I enjoy it in places in spite of myself, but in reality, I think there’s also only one standout track in ‘We’ve Had Enough’. I also quite like Fatally Yours, but other than that, there’s not much I found myself returning to here. Not a bad album, just not really my cup of tea.

 

4. Maybe I’ll Catch Fire (2000)

I’m in general big fan of AlkTrio’s earlier sound from their first few years. However, I don’t think this album lived up to their debut. There’s a little bit of second album syndrome, where they remain in more or less the same style but don’t have years worth of material to support it. ‘Madam Me’, for instance, is one of the better songs, but seems to be quite similar in places to their non-album single ‘Sun Dials’. I think ‘Sleepyhead’ is a pretty good track, on a par with their debut album, and ‘Fuck You Aurora’ and ‘Radio’ are really raw and bold songs that arguably surpass the heights of their first record. Honestly, they’re kind of ‘braver’ than anything attempted on Goddamnit in that they’re more stripped back. I love the raw energy of the debut but it’s a somewhat self-conscious album that tries to hide its self-perceived deficiencies behind constant riffs, pace changes, and overlapping vocals. What they’re doing on Maybe I’ll Catch Fire is more self-assured in a sense, but its album tracks, while good enough, are more forgettable than across the albums ranked above it.

 

3. Crimson (2005)

I liked this album a lot more than I expected. A lot of the criticisms I made of Good Mourning apply here also – the spooky skeleton is still here, he’s just acquired an emo fringe – but the quality of the song is so high that I can’t deny how good an album it is. ‘Mercy Me’ is an all-time classic, no question – a certified punk-rock-karaoke stalwart. But I also really like ‘The Poison’, ‘Burn’, ‘Deathbed’ and ‘Prevent This Tragedy’ – it’s probably the first album on this list so far where I’m not skipping multiple consecutive tracks. ‘Sadie’ is a surprisingly moving song as well – not usually the kind of AlkTrio song I dig, but it’s just undeniably gripping. And I guess that’s why I rate this album quite highly – like Good Mourning, it’s not really my type of thing on paper, so the fact that I enjoy it so much suggests it’s really quite good.

 

2. From Here to Infirmary (2001)

This was an album I found really easy to get into. To some extent, I was disappointed that they moved away from their original style, but I also like their new style here as well. It feels a bit like a transitional album, especially when you hear some of the tracks they wrote between Maybe and this – ‘My Standard Life’ and ‘My Friend Peter’ are fun songs, but are basically Green Day imitations. This album sees the band define for themselves a radio-friendly punk-rock sound that is more their own. It’s not their final form, but I prefer it to where they’d end up taking it. ‘Private Eye’ is both one of their heaviest and best songs, it’s really amazing. ‘Stupid Kid’ is fun even if it’s a little pop-punk and derivative. But it has so many good songs across it – ‘Mr Chainsaw’, ‘Take Lots’, ‘Armageddon’, ‘Another Innocent Girl’, ‘You’re Dead’ – are among their best songs in my opinion. I’m less fond of ‘Steamer Trunk’, ‘Bloodied Up’ and ‘Trucks and Trains’ but they’re not necessarily skips either. Great album – a classic.    

 

Honourable Mentions: The Alkaline Trio (2000) and Remains (2007)

I’m only ranking studio albums, but if I was ranking B-side compilations as well, these two albums would be in the top five. Both filled with great songs – love ‘Bleeder’ and ‘97’ off the former, and ‘Hell Yes’, ‘Jaked’, ‘Warbrain’, and ‘Don’t Say You Won’t’ off the latter. How or why they left some of these songs off albums or relegated them to EPs is beyond me.

 

1. Goddamnit! (1998)

I was blown away by how good this album is. I knew AlkTrio from songs like ‘Private Eye’, ‘Mercy Me’ and ‘We’ve Had Enough’ – I didn’t know this side to them existed. It’s such a fucking good album. It’s not just really accomplished for a debut, but it’s also really fucking original. They were years ahead of their time coming out with this in 1998. It’s ironic that people associate them with the songs I’ve mentioned above, which reflect the band moving towards the punk rock musical centre after writing something that I see as genuinely moving third-wave punk forward. Without them, I don’t think you get bands like the Menzingers, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Off with Their Heads, etc. On the actual quality of the songs themselves, they’re just fucking great. ‘Cop’ has such a weird, irregular, punchy style; ‘San Francisco’ sets the standard for shout-a-long choruses; ‘Clavicle’ manages to convey simply the sentimentality they so often aim at but fall short of later in their career.

The lyrics across tracks like ‘Nose over Tail’ and ‘Trouble Breathing’ are genuinely personal, revealing and poetic, and I don’t think they’ve ever scaled those heights again. In some ways, you can’t, in the sense that you can never be 18 and writing your first ever songs again. Nothing they put on record again was ever as raw and unadulterated as it is here. Also, I love the singing style on this album – no artifice, just blasting it out with passion. Everything about it screams energy, even the quiet parts. It’s the closest thing they have to a perfect album – ‘Enjoy Your Day’ is a bit of a lull for me. But it’s otherwise perfect.

Especially since atom, I would assume isn't involved anymore.

Matt is very sick now.

Idk but I had a feeling that going on tour after completing the album was probably not the best move. Especially knowing his previous vocal issues. Hopefully his voice is just fatigued and being compromised by the pain from the burns. Hopefully he rests for as long as he needs so we can continue to have Matt doing this as long as possible.

Has anyone had any luck getting a refund for 2000Trees festival? We bought evening tickets for Thursday to see Alkaline Trio, so we don't have any accomodations booked and we can't access the rest of the festival days.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

Absolutely devastated but Matt’s health is most important. Fuck sake

Sorry I just couldn’t keep it in. Have a great one to all attending the tour, really curious to see Tosh!

i’ve been trying to refund my tickets but the option hasn’t come up yet, was wondering if anyone’s had any luck
edit-thankyou everyone!!! i’ve figured it out now😭

Damn it! Was literally about to get on at Warwick Parkway! I'd made a strict effort to not check this forum all week because I didn't want any setlist spoilers. Feels like this was the first time I had absolutely zero clue as to what they were going to play.

Ah well, here's what they played in my imagination...

1. Armageddon
2. Back to Hell
3. Take Lots with Alcohol
4. I Found a Way
5. Mr Chainsaw
6. Every Thug Needs a Lady
7. Oblivion
8. Broken Down in a Time Machine
9. Fatally Yours
10. This Addiction
11. Donner Party (All Night)
12. Bloodied Up
13. All on Black
14. I Was A Prayer
15. Break
16. Bleeding Out
17. Cooking Wine
18. 97

Encore:

19. Bleeder
20. Radio

I am close to the band. That’s all I can say. It’s unbecoming of a man to fall to a gas station drug but he will get over it.

Look at how god damn ugly those stars are