January 18, 2002
Alkaline Trio : Private Eye
You can still jump up and down to it but you don't have to have a mental age of 12...
It's got to be tough being an American 'skate-punk' band with three albums under your belt in 2002. The glut of video-hyped, conveyor belt thrash pop bands being marketed as the lowest common denominator cash crop have brought the style into serious disrepute as well as giving so called emo-core, a projected lifespan of about another ten seconds.
Mercifully for us, but perhaps tragically for them, Alkaline Trio have higher standards than most post-Green Day mosh morons, steering away from slapstick choruses towards an edgier style with no dumbo lyrics and a nice film noir twist. You can still jump up and down to it but you don't have to have a mental age of 12.
A thrashcore band you could almost mention in the same breath as originators Husker Du.
Roger Morton
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