Album Reviews

On their semi-new album Alkaline Trio covers Violent Femmes, a band who themselves are not entirely unfamiliar with playing acoustic songs in a rocking kinda way. Our favorite gloomy punkrockers do a pretty good job with “I Held Her In My Arms” and it blends right in with the rest of the album where these guys take some of their favorite songs from their back catalog and strip them down to an acoustic version.

Opener “Calling All Skeletons” hits just the spot right off the bat, sounding as good as the original version. It’s as good a way as any to display the band’s songwriting chops. “This Could Be Love” is another winner with its ominous piano and “The American Scream” is without a doubt one of this album’s standouts.

Okay, so sometimes I would’ve liked them to take a couple more risks and both new songs (“Olde English 800” and “I Remember A Rooftop”) aren’t their best ever written, but “Damnesia” sure is a treat for the fans and it will tie us over just fine until their next album comes out.