Alkaline Trio Band • Page 179

Mourning
Infirmary
Crimson
Cursed
Fire
A/I
Goddammit
ST
Addiction
Shame

 

As of current....

Crimson (Usually my top)
From Here To Infirmary
Agony & Irony
Good Mourning
Remains (This counts)
Damnesia (This also counts)
Is This Thing Cursed?
Broken Wing EP
S/T Newest EP
This Addiction
My Shame is True
Goddammit
Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Alkaline Trio (Comp album of For Your Lungs Only EP and I Lied My Face Off EP W/ Sundials single.)

 

I don’t have a definitive go to Alk3 album. Based on what I relisten to:

Remains (Love the HWM split and some bsides)
From Here To The Infirmary
Crimson
Agony and Irony
Is This Thing Cursed?
Good Mourning
Broken Wing EP
Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
Goddammit
This Addiction
Alk3 Ep
My Shame Is True
Damnesia (should listen to more often)
Older stuff


Also listen to Skiba’s side of the Seconds split, both Sekrets albums, can tell I’m gonna listen to The Bygones album a lot and Emergency Room stuff on occasion

 

My favorite is The Mark Tom and Travis Show

 

nah lol Good Mourning is their best though

 

Hmm, let’s give this a try….

Good Mourning
Agony & Irony
From Here To Infirmary
Crimson
Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
My Shame Is True
Goddamnit
Is This Thing Cursed?
This Addiction

not counting the compilations. If I’m counting recent EPs, Broken Wing goes above Crimson and “E.P.” Goes above Goddamnit.

Good Mourning was the album that I “got into them” with (after previously knowing the songs I Lied My Face Off and Goodbye Forever), so I’m sure some of that is nostalgia, but I’ve always loved the mood and sound of that album. Matt’s fucked up vocal chords I know he hated it but goddamn did they work with that record. Perfect winter record.

Most of the rest of the rankings have fluctuated over time. A&I continues to be their most underrated imo. Crimson was high on my rankings when it came out, then sank towards the bottom, but now it’s roughly where I think it belongs.

Of the two newer ones, I loved ITTC? off the start but the rest of the album isn’t as strong for me once you get past like track 4 or 5 minus a song here or there. It’s also, IMO, the second weakest Dan album and I’m a Dan guy so, that drags it down a bit. But I did love the way they kicked off the record with the most awesome Dan song, then an awesome Matt song, and then some good dual vocals with Demon and Division.

Now that I just double checked the track list for My Shame Is True….I could very easily bump that up above MICF and Crimson at times.

 

Age ain't nothin but a number, I'm 34 and Good Mourning is the obvious best

 

Good Mourning
From Here To Infirmary
Is This Thing Cursed
Goddamnit
Crimson
Alkaline Trio
Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
Agony & Irony
This Addiction
My Shame Is True

Ish... this was kinda difficult. TA and MSIS always in bottom two, mind. I really like A&A too.

 

From Here To Infirmary
Good Mourning
Goddamnit
Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
Crimson
Is This Thing Cursed
My Shame Is True
Agony & Irony
This Addiction

Remains and the S/T comp probably have all my favorite Trio songs though

 

Only thing I would switch is shame ahead of cursed. Some days I like good mourning more than infirmary but gun to my head I probably go infirmary first.

 

Yeah the first 3 are interchangeable for me for sure. If we're counting Broken Wing EP songs on Shame then I agree it's better than Cursed

 

Yeah as I said above I kind of forget how strong Shame is until I look at the tracklisting and I'm like oh, yeah, that's a lot of good songs on there. Adding the Broken Wing EP would be almost unfair lol. All 4 of those songs are great. They all sounded classically Trio but also different/new at the same time.

 

Yeah I simply connected more with shame. I should listen to cursed again bc if I am being honest I haven’t listened to that record much. I enjoyed it but I went to other releases that year pretty quickly after it came out so I could be underrating it. And yeah broken wing owns.

 

Good Mourning
Remains
From Here To The Infirmary
Crimson
Maybe I’ll Catch Fire
Goddammit
Agony and Irony
My Shame Is True
Is This Thing Cursed?
This Addiction
Alkaline Trio (comp)

 

I know someone mentioned Skiba’s raw vocals, but what else puts Good Mourning at the top for people? I’ve always felt the production was a little more compressed sounding on that one vs other records they had done. Some good singles and songs for sure, but that’s not exclusive to that album.

Just curious.

 

It's their most consistent album from both sides.

Every other album either favors Matt or Dan in quality, but Good Mourning is A+ from both.

 

Agree with this

And frankly, even the somewhat shoddy sounding production works. Like, I don't think they went into the studio with some set idea of making the record this way, but....that record just sounds like getting snowed in during a blizzard with grey skies and bitter cold and etc. It's a perfect winter record to me, and for some reason the weird way the bass/drums sound here and there fits it, just like Skiba's voice does.

But yeah the songwriting is top notch. The closest thing to a "miss" on that album for me is Fatally Yours and even that song is decent and it's so fast that it's over in a blink and it's like a cool little "interlude" between the first half and back half of the record.

The highs on it are as high/higher than every other album IMO and the lows (which, again, in my opinion is just Fatally Yours which aint that low lol) on it are better than the lows on most every other album, save maybe FHTI and A&I for me.

Basically, Good Mourning is to me in the winter as Everything in Transit is to summer for me, as in a perfect album with no tracks i feel compelled to skip, that really fits the mood of a season.

Also I guess it's worth pointing out that I've always been into Dan's lyrics and voice more, and Good Mourning to this day is still the most Dan-heavy album (even though Emma is actually a Matt song)

 

I think in for Trio, I have a bias towards songs with Matt and Dan singing together and then Matt lead vocals songs.

With that said, Dan’s new Bygones songs have been some of my absolute favourites he’s done. Lots of repeat listens and the album isn’t even out yet. Maybe his solo songs are just a little more playful or something (because I love when he slips in a playful song on a Trio record because it’s feels refreshing).

 

Wow. Well, I was attempting to write up something but this just perfectly summed it up. So I won't bother.

 

I've always enjoyed when they traded vocals as well and still wish they'd do it more. I remember during the Good Mourning to Crimson cycle, there was a lot of fans on the blood pact and elsewhere calling for more shared vocals and then they went and did Mercy Me and Back to Hell so that was cool lol. Seems like in every song they do some vocal trade offs, I end up loving. Matt's bridge in Love Love Kiss Kiss for example is such a cool and fun little moment. Seeing it return on Is This Thing Cursed with the title track and Demon and Division in the bridge a bit was cool too. I hope they keep that up.

One thing that I've disliked ever since Good Mourning is they stopped doing harmonies for each other and instead starting doing harmonies for themselves. It's such a waste IMO because their voices sound cool as shit together.

 

To me, I mostly judge albums based on the songs. The recording can sometimes swing me a certain direction, but I mostly care about the songs. Good Mourning and Infirmary are their best collections of songs. Even if there are songs that are better elsewhere, the quality in those albums never dips that low for me. High ceiling and high floor.

 

A lot of the harmonies moving forward are actually Derek, but he blends so well it's super easy to not know which are him and which are their own

 

I only notice production when I find it has a negative distracting effwct. With that album it’s only slight, but I do feel it sounds a little flatter in some way. As brought up earlier, maybe vocals from Matt have a different range from other albums because vocal damage presurgery, and some people love it and others feel a little different.

 

It is cool he does vocals and even he his own solo stuff too.

The Trio members are really all vocalists, guitar players, bassists and drummers (not sure if Dan plays or not but I wouldn’t be surprised) and they are all songwriters. It’s even fun when one of the guys sings the other guys song on lead vocals.

 

Yeah when Derek has done backing vocals I always enjoy it too. His joining in on the "we washed it down the drain" line in Emma, one of the rare moments when all 3 of them are singing at the same time, is awesome.

Also love "Don't Say You Won't", which he wrote but Dan sings the leads on.