Alkaline Trio—Good Mourning
“I’m like a broken record, I’ve got a needle scratching me.” I know we are only 5 albums in, but I’ve looked forward to revisiting this one for quite some time. Good Mourning is one of those albums which ties to many core memories of my youth. It is the first of two Alkaline Trio records in my collection, and also, my favorite album of theirs.
Formed in 1996, Alkaline Trio was born of the Chicago punk scene. Dan Adriano and Derek Grant (bass/vocals and drums respectively) were not with Matt Skiba (lead vocals/guitar) at the founding but have been with the band since 1998 and 2001 (again respectively). Mixing pop-punk melodies with emo tinged horror punk lyrics their mid-career work became staples in Tony Hawk games and record store playlists. For my next post I will go further into their history and their modern work, but since there is so much to say about Good Mourning I’d rather dive right in.
A good sign of a great album is when I cannot pick a single favorite song. Do I choose “All On Black,” whose lyrics are engraved on my long lost iPod Touch? Or maybe “Blue In The Face” which is my white whale to see performed live. Perhaps “If We Never Go Inside” which still imbues the feeling of freedom in my late teens and early 20s. However, I’ll begin at the beginning with “This Could Be Love.” The encapsulation of Alkaline Trio’s macabre offerings, this intro track is a fan favorite. This fast paced “love” song describes a toxic, murderous, bed-shitting relationship. The chorus demands to raucous shouting back at Skiba as he numbers the steps to his murder, which is no doubt the reason this song is the band’s 3rd most played live. Upon revisiting this album on my vinyl, I noticed a deeper and richer sound than the early 2000s audio compression when played on streaming, and “This Could Be Love” stood out right from the start. However, not every song on this album is a home-run, and this is most apparent on Dan Adriano’s tracks. The biggest misfire is “Every Thug Needs a Lady.” Not an awful track on its own merits by any means, this entry into the album feels incongruous with the overall tone of this gothic album. Perhaps the song is counter programming so the schtick doesn’t grow tired, but it takes me out of the album to hear a song about cuddling and getting married someday. The album as a whole shows Skiba’s knack for wry lyricism and penchant for creating a foreboding atmosphere. The urgent and punchy punk guitar serves to punctuate some disturbing, depressing, and dark lyrical stings “You crashed your car through my front door
I pulled you from the wreckage. You told me that you missed me, but you meant with the grill and hood.” These lyrics are sung over the album’s most frantic musical arrangement which rides the edge of pop, punk, and rock on “Fatally Yours.” While respecting their lo-fi punk past and embracing their dark histrionic future, this album strikes the perfect balance of dead serious and camp. If any of the genres I’ve attributed to this band catch your interest in any way, I cannot recommend this album enough.
Must Listen To: Continental
Writing the above post without gushing about this track, proved a difficult feat. As is apparent if you’ve read any of my other blog entries, I love songs which act as a perfect representation of where an artist is at, a magnum opus of the moment. While the rest of the album is about fictionalized and glorified death and violence, this song remains grounded in its depiction of opiate abuse. A dark and blunt track much like their earlier albums, and a real life depiction of misery which would become a staple of their later music, this song acts as a high water mark for the band’s career and of course the album.
