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█ Alkaline Trio - This Addiction
█░
█▓ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│█▓
│██ Artist : Alkaline Trio
██ Album : This Addiction
██ Year : 2010
▓█
▓█ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│██
│██ Genre : Punk Rock Quality : 101kbps avg/441kHz/2 channels
│██ Source : CD Size : 261.70Mb
│██ Encoder : FLAC 1.3.1 Language : English
:██ Cat. Nr : HOFF092CDB Label : Hassle Records
│██
│█▓ ------------------------------------------------------------------
│██
│▓█ Release date: 2020-01-19 Retail date: 2010-02-23
│██
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██
██
██
1. This Addiction 2:34 ██
2. Dine, Dine My Darling 2:58 ██
3. Lead Poisoning 2:37 ██
4. Dead On The Floor 4:20 ██
5. The American Scream 2:59 ██
6. Off The Map 3:15 ██
7. Draculina 3:33 ██
8. Eating Me Alive 2:53 ██
9. Piss And Vinegar 2:27 ██
10. Dorothy 3:31 ██
11. Fine 3:16 ██
██
██
██
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Total Runtime: 34:23 █▓
█░
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██ ░▄
██│ Much like California in the late Æ90s, Illinois had its own hub of
██│ punk acts, a good chunk of which branched off from (or claimed to be
██│ inspired by) the initial Chicago scene surrounding a ska band known as
██│ Slapstick. The second branch incarnation around 1998 featured three
██│ primary groups: spiritual ôemoö-esque Duvall, political mod craft The
██│ Honor System, and (to date, the most successful) goth-laced Rancid
██│ rantings and indie wordplay of American punk outfit, Alkaline Trio.
██│ Going from crashing and clattering rhythms to melodic,
██│ positively-charged music juxtaposed with a vampire wardrobe, Alkaline
██│ Trio continues to keep a strong following.
██│
██│ Remarkably staying close to roots while also testing the waters with
██│ new additions like keyboards or very NOFX brass, Alkaline Trio rides
██│ wave after wave of stellar lyrics, gradually catchier rhythms a la
██│ pop-punk, and subdued vocal delivery most days; between having one of
██│ the best compilation releases ever in their seven-strong catalog to
██│ only ever changing enough to remain relevant. What do you expect from
██│ a bandÆs newly-hyped claims of ôback to basicsö forthcoming?
██│ Truthfully, in the case of punk rock, you wish for heavy and rarely
██│ get it (much to the tune of The Offspring outdoing Splinter with Rise
██│ and Fall, but falling below Americana). Alkaline TrioÆs This Addiction
██│ is a culmination of better and worse, a casual album packaged with
██│ hype and failing to deliver whatÆs promisedàwhile simultaneously
██│ getting its Hot Topic groove on.
██│
██│ Misfits nod ôDine, Dine My Darlingö (in title alone) and horn-laced
██│ ôLead Poisoningö aside, This Addiction is not spectacular, but sends
██│ its audience a fond howdy-do with little effort. The usual themes of
██│ love and death are still predominantly present (as noted by the
██│ aforementioned song titles), the album art is cutely symbolic like the
██│ Agony & Irony naming process (yes, they scored ôdouble pointsö for
██│ using a Harvey Danger lyric on that title), and songs like
██│ ôDraculinaö, ôEating Me Aliveö, and ôPiss And Vinegarö will no doubt
██│ make for fine singles or fan favorites. But the tenacious honesty
██│ expected from Alkaline TrioÆs leading man Matt Skiba does not overdo
██│ or undermine anything ù we yet again glide by on the happy medium.
██│
██│ Some critics have mocked Alkaline TrioÆs use of brass and keyboards;
██│ it should be reiterated that said instruments are remnants of the
██│ roots Alkaline Trio so fondly tried to recapture (i.e., the ska days
██│ of Slapstick via guitarist Dan Andriano). I, for one, really respect
██│ that move as it was intended, though those new to the band or those
██│ who were introduced post-2000 will likely not get the reference,
██│ instead calling them out on a NOFX lookalike front. This minor
██│ confusion over instruments that only make brief appearances is moot in
██│ retrospect given Alkaline TrioÆs reputation for releasing consistently
██│ good material, which thereby warrants a sort of ôlicense to jamö
██│ nowadays.
██│
██│ As for more punk-oriented accents, they are scattered in bits across
██│ This Addiction, most apparent in the awesome tracks ôThe American
██│ Screamö (one of the few directly political tracks by AK3) and ôOff The
██│ Mapö. Overall, the big issue here resides in misplaced wishful
██│ thinking; if Alkaline Trio wanted the punk route on a more
██│ Misfits-like tangent, the goal was lost somewhere between doing what
██│ Alkaline Trio does best and trying to grasp a semblance of the Æ90s
██│ ska scene. In other words: If you want to hype a return to roots, pick
██│ the fucking roots and stick with your guns. Upside? ôEating Me Aliveö
██│ is the most catchy and healthy combo of ska, Æ80s era The Cars
██│ inspiration, and pop-punk this side of This Addictionæs prescription
██│ heartstrings (closely tied to ôDead On The Floorö and ôPiss And
██│ Vinegarö). Primary influences on This Addiction do tread a lot of Æ80s
██│ material, as Skiba claims to have been revisiting much of that
██│ decadeÆs material on his headphones recently, and this does add weight
██│ to the pop aspect of pop-punk, so kudos to that.
██│
██│ Final verdicts are thus: Lots of varied influences were stirred into
██│ the melting pot that is This Addiction; the production value is very
██│ marketable, though it adds some speculation that the next AK3 release
██│ might be heavy-handed in the synth department; the majority of this
██│ record feels infused with DC pop-punk moods, extremely danceable
██│ without sacrificing SkibaÆs lyrical strengths. Is it a ôreturnö as
██│ claimed? Yes, but there are too many returns that do not even glance
██│ upon a strongly mentioned ôheavier than thouö presence. The happy
██│ medium exists, and while Alkaline Trio is not exactly striving for
██│ precedence here, it definitely has the current fan-base smiling and
██│ brings some newbies to the flock, pink-and-black toe socks and faux
██│ dominatrix outfits included.
██
│▓█
│▓█
│██│
██│ URL: http://www.alkalinetrio.com
██│
██│
██│
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