Sony
2008
Agony & Irony
About This Album
Major-label debuts from punk bands usually all follow the same route, and end up sounding polished and produced. But with Alkaline Trio six full-lengths into their career, it could be assumed that they would be immune to any sort of big sound alteration on Agony & Irony, their first offering for Epic. Besides, Alkaline Trio already polished things up a few albums ago -- the raw, drunken rants of their past didn't make it very far past Asian Man Records. So the fact that Agony & Irony is overall a moderately paced affair featuring songs more pop/rock than pop-punk isn't such a surprise; it's simply a logical progression from Crimson. It might be slightly disappointing that some of their raw edge didn't return -- and the lyrics are effective, if not quite up to the cleverness they've shown in the past -- but at the same time, the continued polish isn't necessarily a bad thing; there are some pretty great songs here. Opener "Calling All Skeletons" is a perfect pop song -- complete with handclaps and hip shakes -- tailor-made for soundtracking the reckless house party scene of a prime-time teen drama. "I Found Away" skips along to a shuffling drumbeat courtesy of Derek Grant underneath modern rock guitars, while "Help Me" throws everything it has to Matt Skiba's expressive vocals.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

 
report abuse