Alkaline Trio Album: “Agony & Irony (Deluxe Edition)”

First, I gave this album 3 stars because I couldn't give it 2.5. I became a fan of Alkaline Trio when I was a freshman in high school when 'From Here to the Infirmary' hit the stands. I bought all of their previous albums shortly thereafter. From then until 'Crimson' the band has done nothing but impress. With this album, however, the band falls short of thier once powerful poems and deliver watered-down sentiments of restated themes. With a video in rotation on MTV2, a tour sposored by Hot Topic, and an album put out on Epic, it stands to reason that this album fails to reach the band's water line. Each album they have put out has progressed the band further. As a fan I would hate to think that this is where their growth gets stunted. Musically it's just a good ole Alkaline Trio record, but it is lyrically lacking. For those of you reading this review intent on buying the album I suggest buying any one of their earlier albums along with it (get it used they're cheap).

This album normally evokes a lot of emotion from me. Not necessarily while listening to it, but while listening to reviews and quips about the album. AGONY & IRONY is a fantastic album for a jump to a major record label. Exploding onto the Chicago punk scene in 1998, Trio has amassed a hefty following over the past decade. This fan following allowed them to hold out for the right major label transition. With AGONY & IRONY the band manages to hold onto their integrity, something that they lost sight of during CRIMSON, and take this album's sound and production quality back to MAYBE I'LL CATCH FIRE's level. In fact, the album really reminds me of a more mature MAYBE I'LL CATCH FIRE, and it's a nice change coming right off of CRIMSON.

Many critics don't appreciate the movement of the classic Chicago punk guitar and vocals to a more up-beat "mainstream" sound. And while AGONY & IRONY definitely emits a higher energy, there is an evolution of sound going on here. Trio is playing with the constraints of the punk scene that they helped create to find a niche as they mature musically- we saw this transition in MAYBE I'LL CATCH FIRE as well. With AGONY & IRONY, we also see a more harmonious vocal union between Matt and Dan. Normally, there aren't many harmonies and overlapping vocals on songs. However, AGONY & IRONY played with this old structure and introduced dual vocals and more interaction between the two singers.

"Calling All Skeletons" is one of the best opening songs that they have had since GOOD MOURNING's "This Could Be Love" or FFROM HERE TO INFIRMARY's "Private Eye." While songs like "In Vein", "Live Young, Die Fast", and "Over and Out" [you HAVE to check out the Renholder Remix of this song on the UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS soundtrack, it's absolutely the best version out there] will, in the long run, easily be considered some of the greatest Trio songs.

Overall, the album serves the same purpose MAYBE I'LL CATCH FIRE did. It is different, however it is by no means meant to be overlooked. The sound is still very Trio, but the experimentation of sound and vocals is something that I am eager to see as an evolving practice in albums to come.

If you're going to get this album, get the Deluxe version. The acoustic variations of the songs, especially "Maybe I'll Catch Fire" are more than worth it. Spend the extra money.

It's hard to find words that truly express my full disappointment with this album.

I really wonder if the persons involved in writing music for Alkaline Trio really want to be in the music business at all anymore; let alone for a band that I coveted like Trio. Whatever.

Bands go through changes. They go through bad times. They go through slumps, and they go through courtings. They feel love, hate, and break ups. The goods, the bads, and the what-have-you's.

Some never lose sight of the prize...and some do.

Some say, "It's what we've worked for!" And some realize it's a lot more than that.

A band like Trio was a once in a lifetime thing. The sad fact is that they've become what, I believe, they -at one point- never would have wanted to be. A shadow living in the depths of what was, and what now is past. The members try to do what they used to, but it's come so far...you've come so far.

If any member of Trio ever reads this, I would ask that you look back on what you were. Maybe there you'll find what was. Maybe you could find it again. Probably you'll think you're being chided for "being yourself", but the you who was exited long ago.

You can never write songs like you did years ago; I don't even ask you to. But couldn't you at least write one song that had some feeling in it?

I can not say too much bad about this album, it is a good sounding album. But to compare it to their previous releases, this one falls short. It would have been hard to top Good Mourning, but Agony and Irony does deliver a nice sound, interesting lyrics, and the bonus album is a fun change to their sound.

I'd buy it again... on sale.

So, this is a Sony album, and boy does it show. This album is way, way, way over-produced. Everything that is true and real and good has been tweaked out of it by the magick of Sony production.

Go back to Vagrant!!!