Becoming Major

 After spending nigh on ten years as one of my favourite bands of all time, I find myself having to temper my feelings about the Alkaline Trio.

What once was a band fueled by passion and alcohol (seriously; once upon a time every second song was about being loaded) has become a day job. A darkness in the music and lyrics once informed by depression, heartbreak, and (again) alcohol has been replaced by a gimmicky obsession with hell, graveyards, and Count Chocula goth-light-ness. The quality and creativity of the lyrics (”like the sound of sirens to a house on fire, you’re saving me,” “even Christ himself would cringe at the sight of your scars”) have devolved into perhaps one of the most embarrassing lyrics I’ve ever read. It’s kind of sad.

I’m referring to their latest album, Agony & Irony, recently released by Epic/Sony. While it’s easy to take the easy road and say that they’ve sold out and completely written off their past in order to make gimmicky, complacent pop rock simply to move units. I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. My perception is that as the band has become more popular on its own merits it has turned into a major label act; one that knows what the majority of it’s audience is and wants and they write to that.

While that might sound like derision, I’m still perfectly willing to admit that I really like the new record. It’s far and away the “worst” of their career, but it’s still a very solid pop rock album. They’ve embraced handclaps, middling tempos, and teenage goth imagery, but even with a horrendous low point coming in the way of “Live Young, Die Fast,” the lyrics are not a complete write off. There IS some genuine gold to be mined from these songs.

Opener “Calling All Skeletons” is a pop song of the highest order, referencing the seminal Minutemen album and featuring a sing-along chorus. The hooks are many and they come quick in song after song; the first six songs here are nearly impeachable, with the exception of the somewhat heavy-handed ‘war sucks’ hypotheticals of “Over and Out.” Some of the ‘darker’ songs are smattered with production tricks and sounds that could be lifted from a Halloween sound effects CD, but it’s a lot of fun and you get the sense that drummer/arranger Derek Grant is having the time of his life.

The back-to-back combo of “I Found Away” and “Do You Wanna Know?” reflect the best of latter-day Alkaline Trio: the former a twisted pop song with a hint of their former desperation, the latter another example of bassist/singer Dan Andriano’s consistently maturing songwriting voice (and probably the best song he’s written since 1999’s “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire”). In fact, as has been the case for their last three records, Matt Skiba continues to pen toothless bubblegum goth songs while Andriano’s writing has become more and more mature, detailing a truly adult perspective of love, marriage, and life as a person entering their 30’s. In my opinion he’s eclipsed Skiba as a songwriter and I’d love to see his songs pushed to the forefront instead of relegated to their albums back ends and b-sides.

So yes, it’s not a perfect album. It might not even be a great album, but it succeeds in being catchy as hell and not being ashamed of it. They’re not the band they once were, but listeners will still be rewarded if they’re willing to accept their shifting agenda.