Decent cd, iPod filler for me guess, something to listen to in betweem the great stuff like alexisnfire, protest the hero and park. all in black and weve had enuf stood out most to me, decent riffs average cd at most

Wannabe Goths.

To concur with an earlier comment, Alkaline Trio is NOT fuckin' pop-punk. Pop-punk is for cheap second-rate bands that try to play punk but suck more balls than a midget hooker at it.

But seriously.

There are a couple "Yawn" songs, like Blue Carolina and Every Thug Needs A Lady, but then most of the other songs are amazing. Highlights are This Could Be Love, We've Had Enough, 100 Stories, Continential, and If We Never Go Inside.

one of the trios most promising albums for a "brighter" future, we can expect and recive a lot more from this band.

ALKALINE TRIO ARE NOT POP-PUNK
album still rocks tho, the first alky album i bought, th one tht made me their biggest fan

Alkaline Trio Rocks! All there stuff rocks! Dan rocked this album. Every thug needs a Lady is an awesome song.
If you hate Alkaline Trio, Then I hope that you soon suffer from severe genital herpies. ALK3 ROCKS.

Good Mourning is an amazing piece of music. For people who call it pop punk, you are mistaken. The lyrics that Alkaline Trio have are far to morbid to be considered pop.

The album took me a few weeks to get into. I guess I never really sat and listened to it intently. So amazing when you do that. One of the top three albums put out in the last five years.

This is good punk.
If it's pop then you are obviously refering to much earlier stuff by this band. This stuff is not.

However, the thing A.Trio don't give me is killer riffs.
Decent vocals, and lyrics and playing.
But no real killer riffs. Not one.
Nice drive behind the music, but no riffs.
That saddens me and makes this album not as good as it could have been with some nice riff line tablature

I saw them l;ive in NYC. Best show I have ever been too. Good Mourning is the best album of 2003. And I also saw a guy on the side of the stage. He wasn't playing though, he was more dragging his pick over the guitar.

Hurray for coffins, vampires and blood!!!

Uh, no.

Vagrant did ruin this band but, i think with mike park they had there best stuff but after maybe ill catch fire it all went down hill, i am sad to say this becuz goddammit and maybe ill catch and self-titled are some of the best records i have ever listened to.

Fuck everyone who thinks this is POP-punk. Lets not forget that "pop" is an abreviation for popular. When one of AK3's songs takes Good Charlotte's place at number one on TRL and little 12 year old girls start screaming their name at concerts they attended with their mothers let me know. However I dont think many 12 year old girls who might vote are going to get "step one: slit my throat, step two: bathe in my blood, step three:cover me in dirty sheets and run laughing out of the house, step four: stop off at edgebrook creek and rinse those crimson hands, you took me hostage and made your demands, i couldnt meet them so you cut of my fingers one by one" stuck in their heads. Like this album or not it isnt mainstream and it isnt pop punk. In fact it is likely that it will never make an appearance anywhere on the pop charts. I dont hate you for not liking AK3. Musical taste should be your own and not what someone tells you to like but please dont label something they most obviously are not.

"aspects they share with other bands of the emo-core culture, such as the use of three chords for twelve different songs"

Have you ever heard any emo core bands that did that? That would actually distinguish them from any emo core band ever.

dan's best songs are with Tuesday, no doubt.

And the new Lawrence Arms disc deinfetly blows this away.

Luca c

This album was a total let down. I gave it a month to leave some impression on me and nada. I can't even remember what songs are on it except for the last one with Matt's fucked up voice all over it. The ride's over fellas. Hopefully you saved enough from your big pay day so that you don't have to go back to bicylce delivery again.

alkaline trio rocks. they are a really good band. if you dont like them oh well deal with it. theyre better than a lot of people could be.

Dude screw everyone who doesnt like alkaline trio! you suck. Theyre the best band ever!!!

The score is for the review, not the record.
the reviewer of this record is either A: a friend of the band, and is just doing his friendly duties, (understandable) or B: has no musical knowledge or extremely poor taste.
The reviewer has painted a picture of ALK3 being the second coming of christ, and not "selling out."
They are a pop-punk band. They play 3-chords over and over again to up-tempo rhthyms, much like alot of other bands.
Ive heard their records, and I have seen them play, they are fine. whats with that statement about their song compares to that of Nirvana-esque legendary status, that was contrived and written purely for the sake of kissing ass.
As a music reviewer, I hope you are simply doing your friends a favor by trumping up their new record. If you arent friends with them, then you need a broader musical palette, because if you like this record as much as you write, you are very sheltered.

I have no complaints about their live show, thought they sounded great.
This album was solid too.

I swear this is the shittiest live band I ever seen. I like their studio recordings, but the 5 or six times I've seen them live they were just fucking terrible.

-sickboi

fucking fanboy dogs need to go shit some razorblades.

the lyrics are awful. this band used to be clever, but not anymore. horrible.

Toronto tonight baby!!!

I Lied my face off and Crawl are Dan's bests songs in my books.

-bemused-

Shit.

"She Took Him To The Lake" and "Message to Kathlene" are in my top 5 songs of all time, along with "I Lied My Face Off."

Well... maybe the best songs of my high school years, but I still listen to em a few times a week.

'I'm dying tommorow, is a poor man's "Maybe I'll Catch Fire"

Barkley

Saying Shut Your Mouf is a good reason to do just the same'

Barkley

"It has not sounded the same since he strained his vocal chords last year while recording and they had to cancel their tour in January/February."

No shit Sherlock. He messed up his vocal chords quite nicely, so of course it won't be the same.
In my opinion, his vocals are still good. Not quite as strong on the record, but live, are still great. Anyhow, I just find this record to be a bit boring. I don't know why, considering it follows the pattern of all their other records, which I like, but something about these songs just turns me off.

"Despite the aspects they share with other bands of the emo-core culture, such as the use of three chords for twelve different songs"

wow youre an idiot.
the end.

jesus christ what a shitty review. well the worst part is the 2nd paragraph, no one cares about your opinion on Dashboard and Saves the Day. shut yo mouf

How on earth is 'Blue in the Face' a "folk style song"? Just wondering, that's all.

Good Mourning rules, this album is flawless.

Add "She Took Him To The Lake" to your list, Scotty-boom-botty.

They played "Exploding Boy?" That is pretty wicked, I don't think they had ever played that live before this tour.

Also, Danny's best songs are "Message From Kathlene," "Enjoy Your Day," and "I'm Dying Tomorrow." The end.

-Scott

This score is for the show in Minneapolis last wednesday. While they did some songs I never expected (exploding boy, blue in the face), they didn't play radio, or 97 both of which the whole crowd chanted for the encore. it also seemed like they didn't want to be there. Overall I was disappointed. What happened to the trio? Also about Matt's voice. It has not sounded the same since he strained his vocal chords last year while recording and they had to cancel their tour in January/February.

oh, and i'm assuming skiba is the one with the scratchy voice. yeah, i think his voice is fucking sick. it's too bad if you people are offended by imperfect voices, but i think it adds to the charm (see louis armstrong). and if you think this music is simple pop-punk, you need to learn about music.

that's right, he did

matt wrote emma...
sorry

Yeah I think his best song aside from Crawl is Emma....

I guess I forgot to mention that?

Barkley

Was writing a book really necessary in reviewing this record?

Ok, that's one... But as a whole his songs on here are a lot better than they were on From Here To Infirmary.

...evildeadalive

Dan Andriano's best song is "Crawl" and it ain't on this disc. Next....

Barkley"Whiner"Barkster

Love the band, hate the fans. Unlike most of the bands I listen to, I think I hate oldschool Alkaline Trio fans more than I hate their bandwagon fans. Stop your fucking whining, it's rather annoying. If they continued to put out the same record over and over I'm sure you'd be whining about that too. The band has progressed, get over it.
That being said, I think this is a great album, if not one of their best. Maybe it doesn't have the best songs they've ever written on it, but as a whole I find a lot less 'filler' tracks on here than I did their older releases, and Dan's songs are the best he's ever written. Just my opinion...

...evildeadalive

“It’s stupid. There’s so many bands making Stay What You Are right now,” moans singer Chris Conley. “We don’t need to add to the Stay What You Are madness. We already made Stay What You Are.”

Wow I've been put here on this earth to be a messenger of Punkrock

Barkley"Weirded Out"Barkster

I also like "In Reverie." When considering their albums, have Saves the Day made the same album twice? Why did you expect them to all of a sudden become stagnant?

Barkley"Didn't Stay What They Were"Barkster

P.S hey Soybomb nice to see the Larry Arms props

"Musical peers in the world of emo have recently released “sellout” albums such as Dashboard Confessional’s “A mark, a mission, a brand, a scar” and Saves the Day’s newest “In Reverie,” both of which are flawless productions, but were obviously recorded with a “give em what they want” mentality (“they” being the media.) These aren’t necessarily bad albums, but the sounds of both is a far cry from the sincerity of both bands previous efforts. Good Mourning manages to retain the darkly morbid lyrics of albums past as well as its catchy hooks and sing along quality without giving into MTV’s ideas of what pop-punk should sound like."

Uhm...
Just about every review I've read has panned In Reverie for being "distant". To be honest, I love the record, but I think I'm the only one. Say what you want about the sincerity - to me everything's still there, you just have to think even harder. It's less bad high school poetry and more slightly less bad junior year of college poetry. Even the Dashboard CD is something VERY, VERY different than what he's done before...It's something I hate but it's something new, and more power to him for being able to say, "Yeah, look, this got me here, but I want to try this and now I'm going to go against everything I built."

But this?
This is an Alk3 record. It sounds like their other ones. They're still writing pop-punk. It's still charmingly morbid. It's still mediocre at best. The end.

I miss the songs about getting drunk and trying to get poon tang. Then getting even drunker because you didn't get any poon tang. Matt Skiba's voice is fairly disgusting on this album.

This album does have solid tracks, but I love "The Greatest Story Ever Told" much, much, much, more than this.

Peace,
-SOYBOMB-

I cannot get into this album. I've tried, but it's not going to work.
As for the whole offstage guitarist thing, I'll keep my eyes peeled when I see them at the end of the month. That's just kind of sad.

I don't know shit about this band, but that last comment was fucking hilarious.

this band fucking sucks. They fucking suck a real lot. Just cuz hes a broken hearted booze angry booze hound doesnt make the shitty music beneath the contrived lyrics any better.

If your drunken divorced uncle that the family ignores decided to sing for your little brothers pop punk band, this is what you would get.

"If this was a band's debut album, you would all be calling this thing "one of the album's of the year" "

uh, no.

Sorry, but it isn't that good.

And if you have to ignore the past in order to defend this record, well, what can I say.

This score is for The Lawrence Arms' "The Greatest Story Ever Told".

Peace,
-SOYBOMB-

I agree with CallingLondan. If this was a band's debut album, you would all be calling this thing "one of the album's of the year" (god, i wish people would stop saying that-I'm talking to those Mars Volta fans). This is not a Goddamnit, that album was recorded 6 years ago. Move on, alk3 have.

-bemused-

Hey callinglondon, listen to earlier recordings, besides FHTI, and you will see what a shitty CD this is.

Nolan, the band's (old) guitar tech, is the mysterious off-stage 2nd guitarist. Seems pretty weird.

i agree about them trying to be dark, but they only mention alchol in ONE song on this record... the first song... i think they imply drug use/abuse a couple times though...

dan's songs on this cd are really good. matt's just don't cut it as far as i'm concerned. pretty good album but i skip over more of matt's songs than i'd like.

hmmm...i'm gonna have to disagree with, well, most of you in regards to this album. I'm sorry, because honestly, this is the first alkaline trio album i've heard, so i really can't compare it to their past albums, but this record, as its own entity, is a fantastic album. i'm sorry, maybe i'm being naive, but this album actually speaks to me. i know it's polished, but the song writing is just so strong, and it doesn't seem to me like the band is trying to cater to anyone that wouldn't listen to them normally. the combination of the lyrics, and his voice which is about as un-emo as you can get, i think this is one genuinely great piece of work. and if i were to choose one band who could hold up against over production, it would be this one.

this whole 2nd guitarist thing is quite a let down. . .

I love the arms, I haven't noticed their "tireless" work ethic that you mentioned in the previous post. I HAVE noticed that they actually tour in Canada, not to mention fucking Ottawa of all places (where about 50% of your fav bands come, and the other half NEVER DO) Anyways aside from all this, their recordings to me is where it counts. My lp of "Greatest Story Ever Told" is going to wear out my turntable its gets spun so often....

Barkley

you obviously haven't been around the arms since "guided tour of chicago" came out. if they are not one of the most hardest working bands in punk rock, i don't know who is. for them to be where they are right now, from where they came from is a testament to how hard they work and how much they love this scene. don't ever question the integrity of this band.

I don't know.
This band along with Lawrence Arms in my opinion is really overrated...

"Alkaline trio has scrounged up enough money to record their latest effort"

What the fuck?

"the song shows a glimpse of potential in the direction of Nirvana’s legendary “Unplugged” album."

Do not compare Alkaline Trio with Nirvana. EVER!

Alkaline Trio is one of my favorite bands but this album is just crap. Their album have all went downhill since their debut. Anyone that thinks this album is better than any other album they put out must be deaf and have read all the hype.

the tosser's album is second best chicago release in my opinion, much better than reviews made it out to be, but not quite enough to topple the mighty arms. and i'm sure there's plenty of other great releases from chicago this year that are better than this cd. because this cd is not good.

"What is easily the most formulaic song on the album “We’ve Had Enough” beats back the boredom of verse-chorus- verse with its meaningful, if slightly overdone message."

i think the real irony there is that for the radio/video a chorus was inserted in between the first 2 "verses" taking away a tactic alk3 often uses, to make it more radio friendly, when thats exactly what it condemns.. and i wonder why more people werent pissed about that.

as far as this cd, i agree with the person who said "There's some good songs, but also some overly obviously attempts to be "dark" and "alcoholic". It's my least favorite Trio, but still not bad by any means."

this cd made me realize how good from here to infirmary was. although that seems to be the way so many other releases have been for me this year

Amen to that last comment. Where's the songs that actually had real emotion? Like '97? Or pretty much anything before FHTI. Biggest disappointment of the year for me.

There's some good songs, but also some overly obviously attempts to be "dark" and "alcoholic". It's my least favorite Trio, but still not bad by any means. I agree that they need a hiatus though, to regroup and put out an album that deserves to sit alongside "Goddamnit" and "Maybe I'll Catch Fire".

I want to hit Jerry Finn over the head with a piece of lead pipe. Thanks for fucking up Alk3 and AFI's albums.

I love this album though, I don't understand the negativity from the fans of this band. All on Black, 100 Stories, Continental and Blue in the Face are some of the best songs they've ever written, and there aren't any overly bad songs. I dislike the fact that Matt sings quietly in the background on all of Dan's songs though. Please Mr Finn, go back to producing bands like Blink 182, your style suits them more

-bemused-

what's all this claim to who sold out? err

New Rule ... girls are no longer allowed to write reviews hahahahha

Hey, no more jabs at Fireside please. That is my second home.

I agree with Irish_Joo, its like Skiba is trying incredibly too hard to be like The Misfits now. Lyrics like, "She was passing through to climb a hill as she slipped and slid on my gutspill, my better half was praying for her to fall" was fairly dark but in a more creative way. Skiba either needs to A. Stop drinking, or B. Start drinking a lot more.

This album just has too many "dark for darks sake" lyrics. Matt Skiba needs to take a year off to sober up and get his voice back. Then, they could come back in full force.

it's true.

very true, and i fucking hate it. i mean, if the only guitarist on stage aren't playing, THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANY GUITAR IN MY EARS.

This score is for the review. Review the album, dont talk about other bands CDs and the "give the media what they want" shit....makes me sick

This album is the longshot for third place in the "best punk recording from Chicago based band" in 03'

In case you don't know the winner this year was The Lawrence Arms "Greatest Story Ever Told" and the mighty Rise Against hit up second place with "Revolutions per Minute"

Barkley"Likes to make up his own awards"Barkster

Not their best but still good. And while normally I hate when people bitch about "good/expensive" production I think it definitely hurts this album. I heard the demo of this could be love which was pretty stripped the fuck down and it was so much more intense than the lp version. I really hope the second guitarist stuff posted here is a rumor or a mistake. It's kinda hard to respect that. I mean for fucks sake theres nothing wrong with bringing on another guitarist (look at face to face) but at least bring the guy on stage to play. It's insulting to not do so.

Tuesday!

I am a huge fan of The Alkaline Trio and I love every album except this one. Given it has some good tracks on it but nothing that really lives up to their past work.

they had an offstage guitarist on the whoule europe tour too...

about the offstage guitar thingie..

yes, when they played a festival in sweden i heard 2 guitartracks serveral times too, it's not even funny, because it didn't even look like they tried to hide it, i saw matt playing chords and out of nowhere this harmonizing melody came out, i got it on audio.

You know, this record might not be my favourite Trio release, but it's still so much better than ninety percent of the stuff out there.

I agree with Scott that the main downfall of this one wasn't the songwriting, but the production which was annoying. I really love everything they've put out, whether the lo-fi stuff they did on Asian Man or the pristine sound of Infirmary, but this one just felt weird.

I can second this... at the Minneapolis show on Wed. right next to the guitar tech was a second guitarist doublin up... When I first saw it I laughed my ass off. So sad, what has Alkaline become... didn't even play Radio, '97, Sundials, Cringe, Trouble Breathing, etc. so so sad.

Nothing will ever compare to "Goddamnit".... Right after that "Maybe I'll Catch Fire" is as classic as the collection of 7"'s and B's Sides on the S/T collection...

Eh, I do enjoy "Good Mourning" but in my mind the songs don't compare to "Goddamnit" by any means... the style is different and the listener kind of hears them in a different light.

I did see who it was (at least, I think). It was their original guitarist, whose name escapes me. Maybe they just asked him to play for the Chicago show...part of me wants to believe that.

-psychobillywerecat

also, see my posting under the matches review for my opinions on your use of the word "emo."

disagree.
i liked from here to infirmary.

Holy shit, seriously? Were you able to see who it was?

And I agree, that is pretty fucking lame. Kinda defeats the purpose of the band name.

Also, this album is their second-to-worst album, right in front of From Here To Infirmary. The songs themselves are good for the most part, but the production is *terrible*.

-Scott

Vagrant ruined this band, and what happeneed to Matt Skiba's voice?

I saw Alkaline Trio in Chicago last night and witnessed a dissalllusionarly sight. The band now has an offstage guitarist playing with them. Its kind of funny to see Matt clearly stop strumming yet guitar is still heard. I love the Trio to death, and I wish I hadn't noticed this. Either don't write a bunch of songs that require two or three guitar tracks, or figure out a way to play them live. I understand tons of big bands take advantage of offstage guitarists, but it just seems really fake to me.