Home > Music > CD Review > Alkaline Trio, 'Agony & Irony'

Alkaline Trio, 'Agony & Irony'

Angst veterans still bring the noise, but with a slightly more grown-up point of view

By Scott Thill

Special to Metromix
June 30, 2008

Critic's Rating:

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Backstory: Like their peers in Green Day, another similarly engineered punk and pop crossover threesome, Alkaline Trio have turned over a decade's worth of work into a comfortable career of making noise and friends. They even made the jump to a major label, having left Vagrant and landed at Epic, and starred on teen television drama "The Hills." It would be safe to say that they've arrived in the mainstream as fully realized stars.

Why you should care: They rock, and hard. Plus, the kids love them madly, from their appearances on "The Hills" to skate legend Tony Hawk's video game. And the Chicago punkers come from a long line of local bands, with whom they've shared more than a few drummers and guitarists.

Verdict: Trio mainstay Matt Skiba has always had a thing for melodrama, but he seems to have matured slightly here. "Live Young Die Fast" is as much a warning as it is an anthem. "I Found a Way" charts a similar salvation, over breakneck tempo and churning riffs. But he knows where his bread is buttered: "Here it is again, yet it seems like the first time," he shouts on the rumbling opener "Calling All Skeletons," after emptying his closet to enumerate the screw-ups. The woe-is-me continues on the bouncy weeper "In Vein," which dabbles in disco as much as ska. The psychoanalysis ends in apotheosis on the finale "Into the Night," as Skiba screams, "You never know how long your wick is gonna burn" as he angrily rocks into the opposite of a sunset. Cue the credits.

X-Factor: Alkaline Trio recently teamed with Nike to create a limited-edition shoe called "The Heart and Sole Air Zoom Cush."

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