Alkaline Trio are back and have just announced their 9th studio album ‘Is This Thing Cursed?’ which is their first studio album in five years following on from their 8th studio album ‘My Shame Is True’ and if the artwork, track listing and lead single ‘Blackbird’ is anything to go by then the release of ‘Is This Thing Cursed?’ is going to be very well worth the wait.
‘Blackbird’ is a storming pop-punk anthem, it sounds like classic Alkaline Trio full of Derek Grants power drum beats, Dan Andrianos bouncy basslines, Matt Skiba’s fast paced guitar riffs and catchy vocals which have a knack of getting you hooked and singing-a-long within seconds, and let’s not forget the powerful and infectious backing vocals which adds to the catchiness of the song.
To me ‘Blackbird’ sounds like it wouldn’t be to out of place on the bands ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’ or ‘Crimson’ albums which is a major positive as those two albums rank amongst my top 3 Alkaline Trio albums and also favourites within the hardcore Alkaline Trio fan base.
It’s good to see that the sound and feel of Alkaline Trio has not changed since Matt Skiba joined Blink 182 and it’s good to see that he is keeping both projects separate, I do however wonder if with the release of ‘Is This Thing Cursed?’ going to see Alkaline Trio come more popular as I am sure that thousands of Blink 182 fans who previously never listened to Alkaline Trio will now be on-board and with a single release like ‘Blackbird’ there really is no reason not to get on-board as Alkaline Trio are back bigger and better than ever and the 6 week countdown to ‘Is This Thing Cursed?’ is now on.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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