This week's band of the week is Alkaline Trio. These guys have been around for a long time, but I'vefound myself listening to them a lot over the past few days.
I've always preferred middle-era Alkaline Trio. Specifically Good Mourning (which, when this blog first started, I listed as my personal all-time most important album) and From Here To Infirmary (they seem to have really liked puns back then). Crimson was alright, Agony & Irony was kind of a letdown and This Addiction is a decent return to form, but those middle years have always been my favorite. But for the past few days I've found myself going back further, to the days of the self-titled album and their debut full-length, Goddammit. There's a diriter, less-restrained feeling to that earlier work that's lacking in so much modern pop punk.
For those unfamiliar, from Goddammit to Good Mourning they had a very rough-edged pop punk sound, the best kind of pop punk there is. Very fun to listen to. Lot of dark lyrics about love, hate and death without being a mopey, depressing band. Lot of references to drinking and smoking too much (the latter especially from singer/guitarist Matt Skiba). With Crimson they kinda started polishing the songs a bit more and bringing in other instruments and a more experimental sound. By This Addiction they started going back to that earlier kinda vibe, but much more polished. Less dark too, but still fun.
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