With Alkaline Trio’s major label debut Agony and Irony, it’s hard to distinguish if the band tried too hard or didn’t try hard enough.
My love and adoration for this band makes it hard to write anything remotely negative about their music – heck, the first tattoo I ever got was their logo. The new album Agony and Irony, just falls flat of fans’ lofty expectations for a band known for making quality and compelling music.
Alkaline Trio’s main strength has always been their lyrics. Agony and Irony has solid lyrics, but they seem uninspired compared to the Trio’s previous songs of punk-rock poetry. The entire album gives off the vibe that maybe the band didn’t try as hard as they had on previous albums.
Alkaline Trio’s natural progression began with 2005’s Crimson, the band’s most successful album thus far. With Crimson, the band experimented and gave fans a possible glimpse into the future direction of the band. Agony and Irony takes that experimentation a step further, just not in the way fans would expect. Crimson brought back the dark elements that 2003’s Good Mourning lacked at times, and Agony and Irony reverts back to Alkaline Trio deviating from their clever, pop-punk brilliance. Agony and Irony sticks to the formula of power chords, drummer Derek Grant’s big drum fills and an occasional dash of keyboards.
"Calling All Skeletons" is the first track off the record and isn’t a bad song by any means, just not worthy enough to open an album of this magnitude. Album closer "Into the Night" would have been a better choice. The track sounds like guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba penned the song for fellow Chicago natives Fall Out Boy, rather Alkaline Trio.
"Help Me" is the next song and the album’s lead single, for good reason. After years of playing 3-chord punk rock, Skiba may have finally learned to pen the perfect radio song. "Help Me" tells the story of the band Joy Division, whose influence is all over Agony and Irony. "Do you find me in between heaven and hell my dear?/ Where nothing is what it seems," sings Skiba over power-pop chords and smooth piano accompanying the song’s melody.
The next track "In Vein" is sung by bassist and co-vocalist Dan Andriano and is a perfect bridge between the band’s past and its future.
"Over and Out" and "I Found Away" are anthemic rockers that sum up the better qualities of the album’s vision. "Live Young, Die Fast" and "Lost and Rendered" sound like the band tried parodying themselves and failed. "Do You Want to Know?" is a track that sounds like it was written for Good Mourning, and has hit single written all over it.
The punk police will be out in droves predictably calling out the band’s "poppier" approach to the album being linked to a major label. Alkaline Trio will always have the adoration from its legions of fans and the scene – maybe with its pop-oriented approach, everyone else will take notice too.
