Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs has a reassuringly unpleasant title. Alkaline Trio haven't become a particularly cheerful band, but the music is full of life. Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano trade voices, the guitar parts keep finding interesting turns, and Derek Grant gives the songs more movement than a straightforward punk beat would provide.
Hot for Preacher is an excellent opener. The guitar arrives with a busy, rough-edged figure, and the band keep that energy moving through the rest of the song. It establishes the album's main strength: there is detail everywhere, but the chorus still matters.
Versions of You is particularly good. Andriano's voice gives the heavier riff a firm centre before Skiba changes the feeling again. The switch feels natural, and it makes the song more engaging than a single voice carrying the whole thing would have been. Their different tones remain one of the band's best tools.
Bad Time puts a need for human contact inside a forceful arrangement. The writing makes that ordinary need feel urgent without requiring an elaborate explanation. The title track has a similar directness, with a sharp guitar part and a melody that stays clear through the noise.
There is plenty of darkness in the words, but it feels connected to recognisable worries. The record is more concerned with fear, alienation and getting through the present than with using disturbing images for their own sake. The familiar style gains something from that change in emphasis.
Shake with Me shows the vocal partnership at its most effective, while Teenage Heart gives the album a strong ending through changes in melody and mood. The sequencing helps too. Songs feel connected, and the short running time gives the details enough space without making any of them an excuse to stop moving.
Anyone who finds the band's taste for darkness a little much will still have that problem. For everyone else, this is a strong collection of songs with unusually good interaction between the musicians. Alkaline Trio sound alert to one another, and that makes the familiar ingredients feel fresh. It's a very good record from start to finish.
