Sound: Dark melodic punk veterans mature; Their blood and death fascination has far from disappeared (note the album title), but the lyrics feel more purposeful, refined and less schticky this time around
Vocals: The cleaner, gentler Matt Skiba trades off lead duties with the murkier, coarser Dan Andriano, while they frequently converge for tight, hummable harmonies
Production: Jerry Finn (who’s produced excellent albums like AFI’s Sing the Sorrow, Sparta’s Wiretap Scars
and Blink 182’s untitled
2003 finale) returns to do his second Alkaline Trio album in a row
Heavy Rotation tracks: “Mercy Me“; “Time to Waste
“; “The Poison
“
Medium Rotation tracks: “Dethbed“; “Back to Hell
“; “Burn
“
Recommended: To those who marvel at Jerry Finn’s ability to fine tune promising but underachieving bands. Here, his more polished production perfectly compliments a band pushing themselves to a higher level…on the first half of the album. Unfortunately, their songwriting doesn’t quite maintain that level throughout.
Grade: B+ (1st Half = A; 2nd Half = B-)
(As posted 7/25/05 on davepowersmusic.com)
Buy CD/Listen to Tracks
[…] Recommended: Alkaline Trio can still write quality catchy tunes, but they’ve lost some of their unsettling bite this time around. Mellowing out and cheering up (a little) doesn’t necessarily suit them. Agony & Irony feels disappointing in light of the promising strides they made on 2005’s Crimson. […]