Alkaline Trio
"Crimson"
Vagrant Records

Alkaline Trio has been hustling along since 1996, bringing their brooding yet infectious poppy tunes to the table with release after release. I hate to say it, but I feel that they have declined with each release. I gave them a little pass with “Good Mourning” a few years ago, but Crimson is just too much to handle.

Crimson has parts to it where you get the feeling that this is going to be a strong record and there won’t be a bad part about it, but shortly into the first song, it starts off well, then tapers off, leaving me unfulfilled. The second track, “Poison” is probably the worst Alkaline Trio song I’ve ever heard. So disappointing, words cannot describe it.

Co-vocalist Matt Skiba as usual has the stronger of the two singing voices as is the case will all their songs. That doesn’t mean that Daniel Andrianos is a bad singer, but at times his singing throws the tempo off a song completely.

I feel that with this release, they wanted to break some new ground, which they definitely did, as this is a different type of release than I’m use to with these guys. Musically, I think it’s pretty strong but there is not one element that made me want to listen to this album more than a few times.

Reviewed by: Chris Buehler
Reviewed on: September 27, 2005