Album Review: Alkaline Trio "Agony and Irony"

After 12 years of solid touring and a few celebrated underground releases, macabre pop-punkers Alkaline Trio have finally managed to get a foot in the door of the major label record industry. Unfortunately, for the fans, it just might be one foot in an unwelcome coffin. Their last effort, Crimson, released on independent giant, Vagrant Records, saw the band charting darker waters in terms of both songwriting and production. Matt Skiba's lyrics had always touched on the occult, but there was a contrast between the horror-movie lyrics and the upbeat music, something that gave them identity. The songs on Crimson actually sounded gloomy. On Agony and Irony, their newest release, the band find themselves with an overall brighter yet still very produced album, not unexpected for a band on Epic Records. They've simply taken the touches of pop/rock that's always been in their songs to their natural progression. It just may not be what old fans want to hear. Taking cues from 80's groups with airtight pop songs (Pat Benetar, Duran Duran), the hooks are huger, the production taken to the limit. It's apparent on 0:01 of the album opener, "Calling All Skeletons" when Skiba's voice is joined by hand claps reminiscent of The Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl." The album's first single, "Help Me", a tribute to Joy Division's Ian Curtis and what appears to be Skiba's passion for music overall, leads off with a lighter-waving two-note lead that just screams arena! It's a catchy uplifting song with unexpected touches (a dancy prechorus, an unprecedented la-la bridge) that make the song it's own. Like the music itself, Skiba's lyrics have become a bit more optimistic, his familiar fucked-up fantasies show signs of hope, perhaps due to the fact he's been looking into transcendental meditiation. Who knows. "Help Me" and the following song "In Vein" were heard previously on a pre-release EP, the latter being a jerky talent show for Adriano's bass and Derek Grant's skittering drums that doesn't sound much different from any throwback dance-rock song you've heard in years, regardless, they do it right, and their penchant for roping in different styles grows with every album. The album's strong opening leads to a melodic but middling middle section. "Over and Out" is a sentimental anthem with dashes of Duran Duran. Adriano writes the album's catchiest filler in "Do You Wanna Know," lifting the chorus melody from Third Eye Blind's "How's It Going To Be." These songs show they've gotten fairly well at writing poppy alt-rock, something to be proud of, but far removed from their earlier raucous material. This isn't to say the band can't still rock it out, they just tuck the heavier stuff toward the end. "Lost and Rendered" is a crashing epic, filled to the brim with sharp rhythm and squealing guitar leads. Dan chimes in with his signature album oddity, a surfy little monster called "Ruin It." And classic Asian Man Records Trio meets the modern rockstars on album closer "Into The Night," echoing guitar side by side with Adriano's old-school running bass lines and a melodic nod to a song off From Here to Infirmary, "Private Eye."As a longtime fan of both the band and pop music in general, I believe they've only grown as songwriters, that I enjoy the album and look forward to what's next. They've reached a scary point in the punk scene though, where the line blurs seems to blur between a polished album and one seemingly aimed toward the mainstream. Pandering pop or whatever they'll call it, it's taking them places (MTV, pop radio). We'll just have to wait and see what it takes away.