Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Agony and Irony, July 1, 2008
First of all, to start this ramble in the form of a review, I would like to say that, to me, three stars means good record, but not great. And that's how I feel about "Agony and Irony", the newest LP from the Alkaline Trio, and their "major label" debut.
The reason I put "major label" in quotation marks there is that Alkaline Trio put their last three records out on Vagrant Records, and to think that that isn't at least a mini-major is naive and silly. To add to that, Alkaline Trio has become progressively more polished and radio friendly with each record, right up to their last record, the excellent "Crimson", which sounded good enough to get substantial radio airplay, which I'm still surprised it didn't.
So to look at this as some big break from the Alkaline trio sound would be silly, and to think of this as a sell out move would be wrong headed. This record makes complete sense in the continued progression in the groups sound.
So why three stars for the record? To be honest with you, this sounds like Alkaline Trio on autopilot for the majority of the album. The albums lead off single "Help Me" starts off very close to "Time to Waste" on the last record, and goes to a fairly standard start and stop guitar riff before blowing up to a fairly decent chorus, that never really catches hold. "Calling All Skeletons" equates hand claps with pop music, and though as it progresses to the chorus is improves and finds it's melody, it's not a strong enough one to stay in your head.
In fact, that's the problem with this record. The songs all feel half done, as if the band were a step away from writing another killer set of goth pop punk, but just didn't quite finish completing the material. Not a lot stands out as you're listening to it. The lyrics lack the same wit and style that they have had in the past, and musically it all feels just half thought out.
There are a couple of killer tracks here, most notably "Love Love Kiss Kiss", one of the few tracks that bassist Dan Andriano contributed to the record.
But, in all honesty, there isn't anything bad on this record. Nothing will make you cringe or angry. There's just nothing great here either, I think. You will probably not be upset at the money you spent, but you probably won't listen to it much either.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great sort of like reduced fat potato chips, July 13, 2008
I'm still not sure why Alkaline Trio of all bands was picked up by a major label (probably fan base) but that's irrelevant. If you make a good album it doesn't matter who's making the money. This is a good album...but it's not great and it's not excellent. Gone is the snarl and some of the dark tones but the core remains. There are some memorable songs and others you'll skip over...but in no way does this effort come close to matching Good Mourning or even Crimson. No memorable acoustic magic as far as I can remember (see: Blue in the face). Granted the band deserves to succeed for the effort they put into their music but sometimes doing this alienates fans and fails to gain new fans and the band ends up failing and breaking up. Will this be one of those "AFI" or "Bad Religion" moments? Definitely...maybe.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite my cup of tea. Others may feel differently, July 8, 2008
I really loved every single Alk3 album to date, truly some of my all time favorite rock, period. But Agony and Irony is just okay as far as I'm concerned. Maybe it is just me, but do any of you guys hear aspects of the Weezer sound throughout? The way the songs bump and bounce (too much bounce I think) and generally sound just reminds me of them. I don't think it is a good sound for alk3 at all (at least not the way they portrayed it here). I'm cool with them experimenting and growing, but I think it might be good to hold onto the sound (the dark crunch and edge, if you will of the earlier days) and to keep putting cool sounding instrumental jams in the songs on their albums like their earlier works. I'd like to hear more of that again - those early jams are intense, fun, and majorly rock as well as define them apart from other bands. Those strengths are very much underemphasized in this release with them emphasizing things that they clearly do not excel at in a way that stands out. But who knows where this release will take them from here. Growing pains are never smooth and easy.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Interact With Your Music: Discover, listen to, and buy new music, all from the pages of SPIN's digital edition, free to Amazon customers.
by Alkaline Trio 
