Alkaline Trio: Crimson

Alkaline Trio: Crimson

2005

Vagrant Records

Format I Own it On: Compact Disc

Track Listing:  1. Time to Waste  2. The Poison  3. Burn  4. Mercy Me  5. Dethbed  6. Settle for Satin  7. Sadie  8. Fall Victim  9. I Was a Prayer  10. Prevent This Tragedy  11. Back to Hell  12. Your Neck  13. Smoke

The band takes the Gothic undertones of "Good Mourning" even further...But don't worry, these aren't the type of dark, dreary goth drones you'd get from the Sisters of Mercy or something, this is all still snappy pop-punk when you get right down to it. I mean, listen to "Mercy Me." What is that you hear?  Pop-punk!  The production this time is even more lush; full of strings and pianos, but the guitars and drums still hit as hard as ever...

Matt Skiba has his voice back too, so that's a plus. He and Dan Andriano also start swapping vocal lines within the same song, which helps keep things exciting. I have zero idea why they didn't do this on their earlier albums... Speaking of Dan Andriano, he steals the show with his blown-out punk rocker "The Poison," even though Skiba's anthemic "Dethbed" comes close to dethroning it...Their richer, fuller version of "Sadie" from the Alkaline Trio/One Man Army split, is also worth a mention...

I went to see these guys in Phoenix on this tour. A huge chunk of the show was dedicated to playing "Goddamnit" in its entirety, but they played a great deal of "Crimson" too. I remember being struck at how much more theatrical their live shows had become at this point, with fog, dramatic lighting, spooky voice over intros, etc...Which is good for me, since I happen to be a fan of theatrical live performances..Perhaps, I may even take in a performance of "Cats" this weekend at the community theater...




Oh yea, what do you drink while you listen to this album?


Old Style would have worked for the first few albums, but they're goth-ier now...

 FREAKIN' HUMAN BLOOD! YES! No wait...That's red wine..A pretty good choice but, I think we can do better...




That's it!! Absinthe! Man, just looking at it gives me a headache. The biggest headaches I've ever had in my life occurred the morning after drinking this stuff. It does get you hammered though...I'll give it that...


While we're nursing our Absinthe headaches, let's take a moment and reflect on events that occurred in 2005, the year "Crimson" was released...

Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith is released.

 
43rd President of the United States of America, George Walker Bush, begins his second term..

"In this job you've got a lot on your plate on a regular basis; you don't have much time to sit around and wander, lonely, in the Oval Office, kind of asking different portraits, 'How do you think my standing will be?'" --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., March 16, 2005

Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast, ultimately causing an unprecedented  81 billion dollars in damage. President Bush urges the American people to help:

"So please give cash money to organizations that are directly involved in helping save lives -- save the life who had been affected by Hurricane Katrina." --George W. Bush, Washington D.C., Sept. 6, 2005

Hee-hee! Cash money. This is fun!

Awww, I didn't invite you guys here just to bust on an ex-President, I invited you here to ROCK!  So let's pour ourselves a tall, cool, refreshing glass of absinthe and check out  "The Poison" by Alkaline Trio...