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Alkaline Trio


Majestic McMoose

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11 hours ago, Kevin. said:

i've been listening to this album at least twice a day.

"I Can't Believe" is my top track. total earworm.

as far as the repetition, rehash, i think that's the strategy.

skiba's trying to hook all the kids who got exposed to him via blink. what better way than to create a "greatest hits" of the band's sound. most of those kids aren't gonna dig into the back catalog. they're gonna see that alk3 has a new album out and grab it cause they saw skiba play in blink.

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6 hours ago, daveyjones said:

"I Can't Believe" is my top track. total earworm.

as far as the repetition, rehash, i think that's the strategy.

skiba's trying to hook all the kids who got exposed to him via blink. what better way than to create a "greatest hits" of the band's sound. most of those kids aren't gonna dig into the back catalog. they're gonna see that alk3 has a new album out and grab it cause they saw skiba play in blink.

i don't think skiba is trying to hook anybody or market the album in any specific way. he's had some bland songs on the past few albums and he finally wrote better ones. i just saw them a few weeks ago and i don't think there was anyone under the age of 25 there.

i doubt blink even has that many new fans either 

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Yeah, I just that 'repetition' in some parts is just typical last years Skiba. It started before Blink.

Anyways, I don't know if I said this before but... is anyone geting some Social Distortion and Rancid vibes from Dan's fastest tracks?

BTW, I'm loving the record. It's catchy, sure, but it gets stronger with every listen. I feel like it has potential to stay.

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On 8/31/2018 at 10:23 AM, Kay said:

I've listened through properly once.

Not really sure why everyone is slobbering over it quite this much. it's alright, not amazing. it's a better album overall than My Shame Is True but I think the highlights of My Shame Is True reach much higher than those on this record (screw what everyone says, She Lied To The FBI, I Pessimist and Kiss You To Death are amazing - and I love Until Death Do Us Part)

I find a lot of the mix on this record to be a little bit of a mess, especially on the more full on songs. I am a bit "meh" about most of them but it's only been one major play through. I'm going to put my initial impressions and then come back and update depending on how they change later on. it's a nice thing to reflect on. 

1."Is This Thing Cursed?" - Liked it instantly, like it more now, it's very relatable and I like the dynamic shifts in it - half the lyrics suck and half of them are brilliant. it feels like Good Mourning era Alk3 to me in places and that's appealing. 

2."Blackbird" - I like it but don't think it's anything special. 

3."Demon and Division" - sounds like a blink song, the mix is quite distracting and muddled though. 

4."Little Help?" - I actually loved this instantly. simple song, simple concept, really unrelenting in pace - really straight forward but very effective. 

5."I Can't Believe" - Mostly super boring. I like small musical parts in it, and the end half of each chorus, but overall the song is incredibly meh.

6."Sweet Vampires" - Don't understand the love for this one, feels quite mundane to me.

7."Pale Blue Ribbon" - Didn't really stick out at all. 

8."Goodbye Fire Island" - I got really tired of the "pay up" vocal part on just one listen. I imagine on more listens I'll either get used to it or find it annoying as tits. outside of that though it's an alright track, bit odd. 

9."Stay" - I loved this. Very sweet, very Danesque. some good lyrics here and there - feels a little plodding-on in places though and it could have benefited from some more interesting instrumentation.

10."Heart Attacks" - I liked the chorus a lot. 

11."Worn So Thin" - interesting lyrics, kind of dull song.

12."Throw Me to the Lions" - didn't interest or impact in any way shape or form.

13."Krystalline" - Brilliant base idea that just falls apart at the end. it's like "aw man how simple but effective! great two verses and two choruses and...oh that's it? whats with the weird noises? is there more?.... no? just... just nothing? really? wtf" 

Hopefully my opinion will improve on future listens, I think I'll get more out of songs like Heart Attacks over time but the only one I hadn't heard before that I just instantly went "yep!" to was Little Help? 

Okay so I've had a proper few listens now and I definitely have updated opinions, I'm sure you're all waiting with bated breath.

1. "Is This Thing Cursed?" - Still love it, still one of the records highlights for me, I fall in love with it more and more each time I listen to it. 8.5/10

2. "Blackbird" - My opinion on this one hasn't really changed, still think it's an alright track, still think it isn't really anything special. kinda surprised they chose it to be the first one people heard considering how good the rest of the record is. 5/10

3. "Demon and Division" - I was reserved about this one initially because I found the "anything/everything" repeats kind of annoying, but the rest of the song recovers from it. the chorus is great, love the bass in it, the mix is still really odd in places. not big on the bridge either as you just can't really make anything out because it becomes kind of a mess to listen to. but overall, it's a solid song. 7/10

4. "Little Help?" - It might be my overall favourite. I think I like it so much because it's kind of a surprise for me, Alk3 haven't done straight forward punk songs in quite some time and I love the lyrics. Yeah, simple, over done concept, but it's done very well and it's catchy as hell. It's really fun to play and that will always warm me up to a song too - I'm literally going to cover this at a show I'm doing in October. if my sister films me on her phone I'll slap it up here. 9/10 

5 "I Can't Believe" - I've already stated this in this thread but I just can't get into this one. this is the worst song on the record for me. The verses are identical, melodically disinteresting, the lyrics are just not really saying much of anything. The chorus is alright, but a little monotonous for what it is. The only musical things I particularly like about it are the drums, and the ending. 4/10 

6. "Sweet Vampires" - I'm not a big fan of this one either, similarly boring but has a little more going for it than I Can't Believe - I find the guitar riff sounds too synthy in the verses/intro bit and I find that distracting, would've been cool if they'd used different effects or kept it straight forward distortion. The chorus is alright but I just can't really get behind the concept. 5/10 

7. "Pale Blue Ribbon" - I love the riff in this, very cool - pace of it is nice after the dip of the previous two tracks. It took a while to warm up for me but I actually quite like this song now, I like the lyrics quite a bit and the harmonies on the chorus are great. 7.5/10

8. "Goodbye Fire Island" - Yeah, the "Hey ya" lyric is annoying. I don't mind the "yeah" on the chorus though, has a weird charm to it. I like it's a good song, I do like it, although I think this song totally misses a trick. Considering what Matt said the song was about, I feel like there is so much more he could of done with it lyrically and with delivery - it doesn't have the gravitas it should considering the songs background. I kind of wish he never delved into it's meaning, maybe I'd enjoy it more. I like the general mood of the song though. 7/10

9. "Stay" - This is a weird one for me, I really liked it initially but over time I'm sort of less sure. I still quite like the lyrics a lot, and the chorus is really sweet and the "stay" harmonies are fabulous. my main gripe is it would make a fantastic acoustic song, I think it just tonally doesn't work as well with electric. I think they could've stripped this back and it would've been really lovely, but I imagine with 'Krystalline' they wouldn't want too much acoustic on the record. personally, I'd have swapped that around. 7/10

10. "Heart Attacks" - I really like the chorus initially, now I love the whole song. I love the lyrics to this one possibly the most overall and I have zero idea what it's about. it isn't necessarily very special musically (although I particularly like the guitars sound wise in this one), but the chorus does sound quite different for them to me, but the melodies are so spot on 'Matt' sounding that I'm super happy he did it with Alk3. I feel like this and a few others could work easily on something like Good Mourning and that's a comfort. overall, one of my highlights. 8/10

11. "Worn So Thin" - This might be the one that's taking the longest to grown on me. I have no issue with it, it just hasn't "stuck" for me, although again I like some of the lyrics - the second verse he almost sounds like whats his tits from Green Day in places which is weird. it's just a bit weird for me and I think considering the style and speed of "Little Help" and "Pale Blue Ribbon" it's kind of an unnecessary extra from Dan? I'd rather hear something different from him, not 3 interchangeable tracks. 6/10 

12. "Throw Me To The Lions" - Might be my favourite chorus overall, quite like the lyrics to this one as well but only the ones I can make out, not researched it enough. This is another "could've been on older records" one for me, big fan overall. 8/10

13. "Krystalline" - My opinion on this one wasn't changed. I love it, but it just ends with weird ass noises and it bugs me. I think there could've been a great full song here but they cut it short and that you know, would've been fine, but then padding it out with random crap at the end makes no sense to me. IT is really basic and straight forward but the lyrics and melody are infectious and it reminds me of falling for songs like "What Went Wrong" and "Blue In The Face" so I can't fault it, I've listened to it on repeat... but it still annoys me haha. 8/10

 

Overall, it's a solid record. 7/10. not many I'd skip, none I'd skip every time. pretty solid! 

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14 hours ago, Elisa said:

I was talking about that with my friends and we believe blink didn't bring new fans to the band, the new ones they got are just people who were going to become fans anyway

Yeah, I mean by nature of Matt being apart of it, some Blink fans will check it out. I saw 4 or 5 Blink shirts at the show I went to (and 1 AVA lmao). But all things considered, they are still playing ~2,500 person venues so it's not like it is pushing them to arenas! I hope it charts well, Derek/Dan deserve it. 

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Is this thing cursed? : strong opener. The piano is great. Pretty good melody. 8,5/10

Blackbird: I like alk 3 in this particilar style. This isn't anything special though, but enjoyable. 7/10

Demon and Division: The bass into is fantastic. The melody reminds me a bit of A New England. The chorus is catchy. Some really cool licks and goodies all around in the song. Nice acoustic guitar. I'm sure this definitely is my favorite. 9/10

Little Help?: like Blackbird, this is enjoyable, but nothing special. 7/10

I can't believe: This song reminds me a bit of Crimson. Pretty good song. The a acapella part rules. I guess it's acoustic not acapella. 8,5/10

Sweet Vampires: Nothing new here. The echoes are alright I guess. I feel like this is a song that didn't really needed to exist. Maybe I'd enjoy it more if it had synths, but not much. 6/10

PBR: Sounds like a standard pop punk song. Sounds like a less mainstream All American Rejects. Kind of a weak Dan song. 6/10

Goodbye Fire Island: Nice mix of guitar and synth. Reminds me a lot of I Found Away. Feels a bit silly to be honest and not in a good way. 6,5/10

Stay: Starts out really good. A Dan ballad. This is a pretty good. The chorus is a bit of a letdown though. 8/10

Heart attacks: again nothing special. 6,5/10

Worn so thin: Allright 6,5/10

Throw me to the lions: feel like Ive heard this song from Matt a million times. 6/10

Krystalline: this continues the acoustic ender like Sorry about that and Blue in the face. Not as good though, but I like some of the lines. 8/10

 

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On 9/7/2018 at 5:49 AM, Kay said:

5 "I Can't Believe" - I've already stated this in this thread but I just can't get into this one. this is the worst song on the record for me. The verses are identical, melodically disinteresting, the lyrics are just not really saying much of anything. The chorus is alright, but a little monotonous for what it is. The only musical things I particularly like about it are the drums, and the ending. 4/10

it's so funny kay, now a week in, "i can't believe" has become my favorite track on the album. absolute tops.

the "something, something's wrong" as it goes from the low E to G# just nails it for me. i could listen to this track on repeat for days. 

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35 minutes ago, daveyjones said:

it's so funny kay, now a week in, "i can't believe" has become my favorite track on the album. absolute tops.

the "something, something's wrong" as it goes from the low E to G# just nails it for me. i could listen to this track on repeat for days. 

I love the chorus. Easy, simple? yes, but so well crafted and rhymed.

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On 9/11/2018 at 10:39 AM, Kevin. said:

going in to week three and this album still rules. reeeeally wish there were some bsides. i wonder what the deal with that is.

yes! especially since so many of the trio's non-album tracks end up being their best. that little EP of dan's songs were the best tracks off my shame is true, by far.

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