Alkaline Trio - This Addiction Review

Posted by Mac Scarle on 02.25.2010

The Chicago punk three-piece return with what can only be called a comeback record...



Tracklisting:
1.This Addiction
2.Dine, Dine My Darling
3.Lead Poisoning
4.Dead On The Floor
5.The American Scream
6.Off The Map
7.Draculina
8.Eating Me Alive
9.Piss And Vinegar
10.Dorothy
11.Fine

I've encountered few bands in my lifetime that foster the kind of fanboy/fangirl obsessiveness that Alkaline Trio does – and I count myself among those fanboys. The Chicago punk rock three-piece have garnered a vocal following thanks to classic records like Goddamnit! and Maybe I'll Catch Fire, and have also caught some heat in recent years for their last two efforts, Crimson and Agony and Irony, records that many fans thought were too commercial and overproduced, leaving behind the raw sound that had made Alkaline Trio so popular in the first place.

Full disclosure: despite my favorite Trio record being Maybe I'll Catch Fire, I'm one of about six people that thought Crimson was an excellent record. I also don't really like Dan Adriano. That alone is usually enough to mark me for death among fellow Alkaline Trio die-hards, so I always feel somewhat beholden to point it out from the outset.

First things first: those people saying that this record is a “return to form” for Alkaline Trio are only half-right. Is it better than the absolute abortion that was Agony and Irony? Yes, absolutely. By miles. But saying that it's better than what was undoubtedly their weakest effort yet isn't really saying much, is it? Ultimately, this record is no Agony and Irony (in a good way) but it is also no Goddamnit! (in a not-so-good way). It's more than slightly unrealistic to expect another one of those records, really, so don't take that last statement as a condemnation of This Addiction. Sonically, the record falls somewhere in-between Good Mourning and Crimson, which is alright by me. More than alright, actually. Most importantly, unlike the record that preceded it, This Addiction sounds like an actual Alkaline Trio record.

This Addiction starts off very, very promisingly with the furious title track and its follow-up “Dine, Dine My Darling,” which are also the two songs on the record that come the closest to replicating the old-school Trio song that many people clamor for. Besides the excellent (and somehow simultaneously cringe-inducing) Misfits reference, “Dine, Dine My Darling” is also one of about five Dan-fronted songs that I really love, which is saying a lot. As a matter of fact, I enjoy every single “Dan song” on this record, with “Fine” standing out as another particularly great track. “Dine, Dine...” also provides a nice contrast from the opening track, as it's more of a love song than a love-lost song.

That point brings me to another positive about this record. The lyrics, thanks to Matt Skiba's well-documented personal struggles as of late, are just as raw and emotional as ever, but most of the annoying tics the band had developed over the last few records have begun to disappear. The Satanism references (which, aside from “Hell Yes,” I always found kitschy and kind of lame) are almost gone entirely, and that weird vampire fixation is almost nearly eradicated, minus “Draculina.” It's definitely a step forward.

Very few records are perfect, and This Addiction is no exception. “The American Scream” is a song that tells the story of a returning veteran who ends up committing suicide, and while it's not a bad song musically, the lyrical theme really just doesn't make sense as an Alkaline Trio song. Plea for Peace participation notwithstanding, this is not a political band, and it's always awkward when groups suddenly decide to branch into this realm. As it stands, it just sounds like a modern Green Day song, if Green Day was a significantly less terrible band.

Aside from that hiccup, I enjoyed this album immensely. After their last effort, I will admit coming into this record very cautiously, but it's a perfect mix of the old and new Alkaline Trio. It's polished, but not overly so, and ditches most of what annoyed me the most about the last few Trio records. There's several truly great songs on This Addiction, from the opening two tracks on to songs like “Dead On The Floor” (whose intro is more than a little reminiscent of “San Fransisco”) and “Dorothy.” Really, only the pickiest of picky superfans will dislike this record, and it's pretty much impossible to please those kind of people anyway. This may not be a pure “return to form” but I'd argue that it's the best we can ever hope for out of Alkaline Trio at this point in their career.

The 411: It's not their best work, and it's not perfect, but This Addiction is also the best album that Alkaline Trio have put out in years. It's a good mix of old and new, polished and produced but not to the point of overkill. Matt Skiba's songwriting skills are still among the best in the punk/emo world, and even Dan Adriano is beginning to grow on me in terms of vocal ability. Absolute die-hards will certainly find reasons to complain, but those of us with slightly more realistic expectations from Alkaline Trio will find little to complain about here.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]