Il 2010 è iniziato da poco e già spuntano le prime uscite interessanti. Ultimi ad aggiungersi alla lista sono gli Alkaline Trio, uno dei miei gruppi preferiti, che pubblicano il settimo album della loro carriera, il primo per la loro etichetta Heart And Skull.
Purtroppo devo dire che questo lavoro non rispetta molto le mie (ma penso anche di altri) aspettative. Non che sia un album da buttare, anzi, ha parecchi spunti positivi nonchè elementi tipici del sound del gruppo, ma manca di impatto e freschezza. Almeno per quanto riguarda agli standard a cui ci ha abituato il gruppo con i precedenti lavori.
E si che il singolo “This Addiction”, che da titolo pure all’album, aveva lasciato ben sperare in quanto a potenza e freschezza, uno di quei brani che entra dritto nel cuore dei fan, con un Matt Skiba che canta col cuore in mano. Tutti ingredienti che lasciavano presagire un gran lavoro.
Invece quella canzone rimarrà purtroppo un caso isolato rispetto a tutto il resto del lavoro. Questo “This Addiction” può considerarsi una sorta di riscoperta delle proprie radici pop punk mischiate ad aperture prettamente rock. Le canzoni si presentano nella classica alternanza tra il cantato di Matt Skiba e Dan Adriano: “This Addiction”, “The American Scream”, “Dead On The Floor” e “Fine” riescono a strappare consensi, mentre “Dorothy”, “Off The Map” e “Dine Dine My Darling” rappresentano forse l’anello debole di questo lavoro.
C’è anche spazio per la sperimentazione, come la divagazione ska di “Lead Poisoning” e i synth di “Eating Me Alive”, che richiamoano i Heavens, side project del chitarrista cantante Matt Skiba.
“This Addiction” è questo, un mix di buone canzoni alternate a momenti meno incisivi, ma che comunque mette in luce le caratteristiche di un gruppo che negli anni ha saputo ritagliarsi il proprio spazio e a diventare uno dei nomi più importanti nella scena alternative d’oltreoceano. Piuttosto che un mezzo passo falso, preferisco vedere questo abum come un lavoro di transizione, un momento di tranquillità compositiva, in attesa di una nuova bomba che vada a gonfiare ulteriormente una discografia quasi perfetta.

Tornano gli Alkaline Trio! La band ha annunciato questa mattina alla stampa un nuovo album in uscita , “THE ADDICTION” previsto per il 22 Febbraio su HASSLE RECORDS ( in Collaborazione con Heart & SKULL, la loro etichetta personale) in tutto il mondo. Di seguito, il comunicato stampa originale di Hassle Records, nel quale la band rivela alcuni dettagli, tra cui la tracklist, del prossimo “The Addiction”.

Alkaline Trio and Hassle Records are together again to release the band’s seventh studio album in partnership with the band’s own label, Heart & Skull. “The Addiction” will be due out February 22. Wez, label manager speaks out and says “I am over the bloody moon!” With all things dark and wonderful Alkaline Trio have come back with an excellent release that will be sure to have the Trio fans begging for the bands return to the UK. Matt Skiba says, “we are honored to be putting out yet another record with Hassle. They have always been like family to us and it’s good to be home again, we couldn’t be more excited.”
 
Upon release they will also be a “deluxe” edition of the album containing 6 bonus tracks and a bonus dvd that is a full electric live set, recorded from Las Vegas last summer.
 
 It’s been 11 years since Alkaline Trio released their first full-length album, ‘Goddamnit.’ In that time, they’ve been signed to three different labels and expanded their sound beyond their original straight-ahead punk style, incorporating more melody and production. Now, with the pending release of their seventh album on their newly formed Heart & Skull label — a joint venture with Hassle- the Chicago rockers are heading back to their roots.

“This record is a rock record but our punk rock upbringing definitely shines through, more so than our last few records,” singer/guitarist Matt Skiba tells Spinner. “The vibe is similar to our humble beginnings. It’s a step forward but I also think it has glimmers of our past in it.”

To recapture the sound of the early days, Skiba says the band took a simpler approach to recording the album, which will feature 11 tracks and be released in February. While Skiba says there’s a little bit of synth on the record and one trumpet solo in the style of Neutral Milk Hotel, not ska-punk, the band mainly kept things straightforward. “We went with a less-is-more approach on this record. A lot of it is just one guitar rather than overdubs or three or four guitars,” he says. “We wanted a record that we could easily play live. For the most part, it’s pretty bare bones while still sounding full and big.”

But that’s not the only way Alkaline Trio is getting back to their origins. “Another thing that makes it resemble our earlier records, especially our first record, is that it’s really personal,” Skiba says. “A couple of us have gone through some pretty serious life changes. We had a good friend of ours pass away since the last record. There’s a song on the record, ‘Dorothy,’ that was really influenced by the film ‘Blue Velvet ‘ but it’s a metaphor for someone and something else. Everything on the record is stuff that definitely hits close to home for us and we tried to communicate that in the songs.”

That said, Skiba also takes on politics, though it’s still within the traditional dark themes of Alkaline’s best work. “There is a song on the record called ‘The American Scream’ that is political,” he says. “For a long time we were afraid to write overtly political songs but I read this article about a US soldier that came back from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and blew his head off on his mother’s grave and I wrote a song about that.”

Alkaline Trio are currently approving the final artwork for the album — the title of which is still being kept under wraps — and says he can’t wait for fans to hear it. “We’re really excited to get back on the road and see everybody. We’ve been playing some of these songs live but most of them nobody’s heard so we’re really excited,” he says. “We’re very, very proud of the record and we hope that everybody digs it.”
 
Tracklisting:
 
1.       This Addicition

2.       Dine, Dine My Darling

3.       Lead Poisoning

4.       Dead On The Floor

5.       The American Scream

6.       Off The Map

7.       Draculina

8.       Eating Me Alive

9.       Piss And Vinegar

10.   Dorothy

11.   Fine

“Agony & Irony” è il quinto studio album della band pop punk statunitense Alkaline Trio, pubblicato nel 2008 per Epic Records.
L’album è stato rilasciato anche in un’edizione speciale, contenente un secondo disco con canzoni acustiche.

Tracklist
1. Calling all skeletons
2. Help me
3. In Vein
4. Over and Out
5. I found away
6. Do you wanna know?
7. Live young, die fast
8. Love love, Kiss kiss
9. Lost and rendered
10. Ruin it
11. Into the night

Tracce bonus
1. In my stomach
2. Love love, kiss kiss (acoustic)

Disco 2 – Deluxe edition
1. Burned in the house
2. Maybe I’ll catch fire (acoustic)
3. Live young, die fast (acoustic)
4. Into the night (acoustic)
5. Over and out (acoustic)
6. Lost and rendered (acoustic)

Sito del gruppo: www.alkalinetrio.com