Either I’m just old and terribly nostalgic for “the good old days” or the Alkaline Trio’s new album This Addiction is just disappointing or (more than likely) it’s a combination of the two. Sure, there are shades of the band I used to love, but this isn’t the same Alkaline trio that once (long ago) inspired my wife to get a tattoo of their skull & heart logo; the Alkaline Trio hasn’t been that band for quite some time and it sorta makes me sad.
I was hopeful (as always) about this new album but if I could use only one word to describe the majority of This Addiction it would be well-intentioned but failing to recapture the past. Most of the album feels uninspired and feels like the band is simply going through the motions but Ican’t fault them for that since some days it feels like I’m just going through the motions too. They’ve also stated they are trying to get back to their roots despite a dozen years of moving away from who and what they were way back then. In an attempt to get there, the band even brought in Matt Allison to produce this album (the first Trio album he’s done in a long time) but it only half works. As someone who has been a “fan” of the Alkaline Trio for almost as long as the band has existed, I feel more than qualified to critique and complain about every misstep that they’ve made including this one.
So many of the songs on This Addiction come through my speakers as empty and hollow; like a catchy melody and some words written simply for the sake of writing words. It’s less apparent here than on some of their previous releases, but at some point the Alkaline Trio seems to have become more about image than honesty. Although the band didn’t begin their career writing about puppy dogs and lollipops, it’s been about the imagery of blood, death, vampires and the like for too long in my opinion. They sound like a band stuck with their image.
The title track begins with a punch that recalls the Alkaline Trio of old but despite being uber-catchy, Matt’s vocals in the chorus just seem awkward. Really (though) it’s as good of a start to the album as I could have ever hoped for. “Dine, Dine, Dine My Darling” is a tune sung by Dan that reminds me of “My Standard Break From Life” and (like that song) it is really poppy and a bit out of place here. “Lead Poisoning” is a boring (although upbeat) song that I might as well have never heard. It’s completely unnoteworthy except for the “surprising” trumpet at the end. Thus far, whatever…
From the start, “Dead On The Floor” sounds like a classic mid-tempo Alkaline Trio song (think “San Francisco” but less aggressive) and I love it. It’s my favorite song on the album. “The American Scream” isn’t bad at all and I kinda like the song, but the title isn’t clever and it just lacks any real “oomph.” Dan’s second song on This Addiction is “Off The Map” and (being pretty typical of Dan) is one of the better songs on the record even though it perfectly illustrates just how polished and predictable this current version of Alkaline Trio has become.
It really makes me cringe to say that I really like the melody of “Draculina” because with lyrics like “in the blood and guts and the birds of prey and the stinging of bees,” and a vixen named Draculina as the main character, I can’t take it seriously. They can’t just leave well enough alone. Is “Eating Me Alive” a Heavens song adapted for Alkaline Trio? Again, it’s not terrible, just not really memorable at all. Good thing that it’s followed by “Piss And Vinegar” which is my least favorite song on the album and memorable because of that. I’m not really sure who “Dorothy” is and I really don’t care. The songs here aren’t bad, but they aren’t great. This Addiction is fine and well but it isn’t for me. My apathy is more of a comment about how I feel about the evolution of the band rather than this album in particular.
The album ends with another of Dan’s songs called “Fine” and even though (or perhaps because) it is the least Alkaline Trio sounding song on This Addiction it might just be the best one. I can certainly accept change if it’s good, but in listening to this album I just find myself grasping for things to hold onto; I find myself (more often than not) wishing I was listening to Goddamnit. I’ve accepted that Matt, Dan, and Derek have changed but I also have to accept the fact that I’ve also changed. If you’d have told me when I was 18 that I would someday love alt-country and roots music, I wouldn’t have believed you. You see, the Alkaline Trio and I have grown apart over the years and this isn’t the same band I used to love, and it isn’t fair of me to expect them to be.
MP3:
Alkaline Trio - This Addiction
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I feel the same way
I am not disappointed with This Addiction because my expectations were kind of low going in. I skipped Crimson and Agony & Irony because I didn’t really like the more polished sound, so this album is a welcome development. I’d say that this most reminds me of LTJ’s GNV FLA – an erstwhile “return to form” album that reminds me of what I loved in a band, but doesn’t quite match up to the past standard. I think this is due to the nostalgia factor and the fact that I’ve gotten a bit more critical having heard so much more music.
Gotta say i’m not dissapointed and really like the new album, much as i’ve loved pretty much everything since Good Mourning ( i liked them before this but that album was the turning point for me), then again i never expect the veteran punk bands that still wander the earth to recreate their youthful glory, much as my expectations of a night out now are less than compared to what they were twenty years ago!
I’ve kept listening to this hoping for it to grow on my, but still hasn’t. It does sound too much like Dan’s solo work, Heavens, Matt’s solo work and Alkaline Trio all rolled into a complete mess. They did rock live at the Metro, playing 3 or 4 songs from this record, but mostly the goodies from old.
I gave it a solid meh.