ALBUM REVIEW: Blood, Hair And Eyeballs – Alkaline Trio
With a career spanning over 28 years, nine studio albums and countless world tours there are few punk fans that are not aware of the influence of ALKALINE TRIO. The Chicago-born band shocked fans at the end of last year when long-term drummer and co-songwriter Derek Grant exited the group after 22 years behind the kit. However, the band have stayed their course and recruited Atom Willard, a well-respected drummer known the world over for this work with bands like ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT, THE OFFSPRING and AGAINST ME!, to name but few. Prior to the departure of Grant, the lads put the finishing touches to what would prove to be his final contribution to the band in the form of their tenth full-length studio effort Blood, Hair And Eyeballs in Dave Grohl’s own Studio 606 in North Ridge, California with Grammy award-winning producer Cameron Webb helping to harness the classic Trio sound for the landmark release.
Straight out of the gate the boys sound fired up, with one of the finest riffs that guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba has penned in years immediately capturing the attention in opener Hot For Preacher. It’s a track that has all of the staples of a classic ALKALINE TRIO song, with infectious, catchy melodies paired with thoughtful, clever lyrics and impressive musicianship. However, what is more immediately noticeable is the energy that comes through the speakers. The lads sound fired up and just to hear them giving their all is exciting. The haunting keys and echoed vocals used in the following track Meet Me add a layer of atmosphere to another classic Skiba love song, dripping in dark romantic lyricism and catchy hooks to ensure that the album gets off to a flying start.
Next is the first song on the album sung by founding member/bassist/vocalist Dan Andriano in the form of Versions Of You – a track that was hand-selected by the band as one of the lead singles for the album and rightly so. The off-kilter and unorthodox structure to the verse melodies makes for a captivating listening and the chorus is an absolute stonker that will get stuck in the ears of the listener for the foreseeable future. The following song is another single, Bad Time. Despite the far more direct nature of the song structure, this is one of the most exciting on the album with Skiba delivering one of his best vocal performances in years to mark this out as a prospective setlist staple when the band take this album on the road.
Scars is something a little different. This is the sound of a band that don’t want to retread the same old ground that they have before. From a distance it seems like a straight up pop rock song, but when you step back and take a look you see a superb performance on both the bass (Andriano has always been a criminally underrated bass player) and vocals alike. Add to this the almost ska-inspired guitars from Skiba in the verses and the huge chorus with the perfectly intertwined vocals from the pair and you come face to face with a future singalong classic.
If you weren’t sold on the album so far then take the time to listen to its title track. This is the sound of the band firing on all cylinders, with Skiba squeezing as many “motherf*ckers” into the lyrics as he can and sounding like he is genuinely having fun whilst doing so shows you just how upbeat the album feels. The accompanying video is also well worth a watch, as it sees the lads fighting off an attack from a zombie attack whilst playing in a skatepark and new drummer Atom Willard throwing a cymbal into the head of skating legend Steve Caballero.
Closer Teenage Heart sees the record signing off in strong form. Without hammering the point home too much, it is once again worth mentioning just how good Skiba sounds on this album. He sounds like his focus is laser-pointed on ALKALINE TRIO again and the band is far better off for it. This album doesn’t just pick up from where Is This Thing Cursed? left off more than five years ago, it solidifies the maturing sound of a punk band getting older and perfectly finding the balance between sounding energetic and fun whilst adding that layer of maturity and experience to their songwriting.
ALKALINE TRIO are a band that have always done things their own way and have forged their own path throughout the entirety of their near three-decade career, and with Blood, Hair And Eyeballs they have proven that there is plenty of life in them yet and a massive number of ideas still up their collective sleeves to dive into. A triumphant return.
Rating: 9/10
Blood, Hair And Eyeballs is set for release on January 26th via Rise Records.
Like ALKALINE TRIO on Facebook.