ALKALINE TRIO Vinilo y CD

Review: Alkaline Trio still stand strong as a complex band of punk rockers, known for their unusual blend of grunge, goth and punk rock elements. Their fourth album, and considered by many fans to be their best - Good Mourning - flaunts this talent, with the songs therein both energetic and emotional, spanning themes of love, death, addiction and despair. Despite the pop-punk flavour, there's a rawness in these classics that manages to poke through the melodic spectacle. Originally released in 2003, this reissued Deluxe Edition of the album features a limited gatefold 2x10" LP in a spot-varnished sleeve, as well as four bonus tracks that were not included on the original CD version.

Review: Alkaline Trio continue to enjoy their heyday with the strong Blood, Hair and Eyeballs, their tenth album to date. The band's first ever album to be made with their new drummer Atom Willard (Rocket From The Crypt, Angels & Airwaves), this is both nominally and sonically a visceral album, a veritable oozing-forth of metallic-punkish blood and guts after a bloody groundswell built up over the long silence that followed 2018's Is This Thing Cursed?.

Review: Following the breakout success of their acclaimed 2000 sophomore effort Maybe I'll Catch Fire, California gothic pop-punk heroes Alkaline Trio began to outgrow their label Asian Man Records, even being instructed to look for a bigger label-base as the increased demand for physical copies and merch became too much for label head Mike Park to handle. This would eventually lead to the band being courted by Vagrant Records in order to distribute their now commercial and career high point From Here To Infirmary in 2001, which would also serve as their only work with drummer Mike Felumlee before being replaced with punk-drummer extraordinaire Atom Willard for touring purposes. Marking the first sonic shift away from the more angst-riddled chaotic emo-punk of their earlier material, and embracing more melodious and direct compositional song structures, for many, From Here To Infirmary is where Alkaline Trio truly discovered their own musical identity.