Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony (Deluxe Edition)

Deluxe Edition Two CD set of Alkaline Trio's 2008 album Agony & Irony includes 28 page booklet in a hardbound book package with bonus disc of acoustic tracks. Alkaline Trio have been playing their unique brand of hardcore Punk music to legions of fans for over ten years. With Matt Skiba on guitar and vocals, Derek Grant on drums and Dan Adriano on bass, the band emerged from the working class suburbs of Chicago,Illinois in 1997. The Trio released their first two albums with indie label Asian Man Records and then joined Vagrant Records in 2001. Over the past decade, Alkaline Trio's sounds and lyrics have evolved from raw, loud, and uninhibited as to refined, poetic and profound as heard on their last release, Crimson. The album was produced by Josh Abraham (Staind, Korn) and features the lead single 'Help Me'. Album Description

Great Album

I've been a fan for a while. This album does sound a little different but people and bands change so its hard to stay the same. So far I'm really digging the first six, Over and Out has to be my favorite and the other 5 are growing on me. I'm looking forward to seeing them, Thrice, and Rise Against in Cleveland in 2 weeks and hopefully they'll play some new tracks along with some old ones. September 13, 2008

On A Positive Note, There Exists GOOD Trio To Explore...

It's hard to find words that truly express my full disappointment with this album.
I really wonder if the persons involved in writing music for Alkaline Trio really want to be in the music business at all anymore; let alone for a band that I coveted like Trio. Whatever.
Bands go through changes. They go through bad times. They go through slumps, and they go through courtings. They feel love, hate, and break ups. The goods, the bads, and the what-have-you's.
Some never lose sight of the prize...and some do.
Some say, "It's what we've worked for!" And some realize it's a lot more than that.
A band like Trio was a once in a lifetime thing. The sad fact is that they've become what, I believe, they -at one point- never would have wanted to be. A shadow living in the depths of what was, and what now is past. The members try to do what they used to, but it's come so far...you've come so far.
If any member of Trio ever reads this, I would ask that you look back on what you were. Maybe there you'll find what was. Maybe you could find it again. Probably you'll think you're being chided for "being yourself", but the you who was exited long ago.
You can never write songs like you did years ago; I don't even ask you to. But couldn't you at least write one song that had some feeling in it? August 4, 2008

Solid, albeit quite a bit redundant

I've been enjoying A3's music for about a decade now. I accept that they've changed for good since their Chicago days, and am able to enjoy elements of every release they have. With that said, a number of songs on this album are gems, and several are varied enough to keep your interest through and through. My one concern, and it's pretty significant, is the fact that almost every song (or far too many, at the very least) follows the same exact blueprint. Each song stays low key throughout the main verses, and then they break into this overly-polished (over-produced/poppy/programmatic?) chorus. Listen to the first 5 or so tracks and it's difficult to feel like each song becames stale & predictable in all the wrong ways - that is, you know exactly what the coming chorus will sound like without having heard it because every damn song is approached the same way (compare this to Good Mourning, for instance, which is extremely varied from song to song). The music becomes more varied as the disc moves on, so perhaps listening to it on random would mitigate this a little. As for the extra dvd, it's unfortunate that they didn't include more songs, and 'live young die fast' is definitely not strong enough to compete with the rest, but overall the acoustic songs are really impressive and worthwhile. The booklet that's included is unique and imaginative (though it's odd to see 'Epic' plastered in type as big as a megalomaniac's signature in both the front and the back, as if it's part of the artistic composition itself (major this is post-modern irony?). All complaints aside, in the final analysis i'm just grateful that there's a new A3 cd to enjoy, and that there is a lot of great music on here in the first place. July 24, 2008

It's not too bad.

I first heard the Alkaline Trio on [...], and thought they were slightly better than average. I bought this album, and it's been a little better than expected.

Let's get something straight. Alkaline Trio seems to emphasize one major aspect of music: Vocals. This is great in my book, because that's really all I care about in music, but other's care about the guitar and drums. To be honest, the guitar didn't make a huge impression on me, but I am by no means an expert.

Deluxe Edition Extras:

The deluxe editon came with an extra CD full of acoustic and demo versions of the songs. They are not too bad, but not as good as the main album. Deluxe also includes extra artwork, and a cool little cover box thing. Is it worth the extra money you pay? I don't think so, but that's only my opinion. If best buy had had the regular edition, I would have bought it.

So basically if you like the basic melody and rhythm of emo music, and you like the vocals of standard rock music without depressing lyrics, give this album a try. July 10, 2008

Predictable downfall

I can not say too much bad about this album, it is a good sounding album. But to compare it to their previous releases, this one falls short. It would have been hard to top Good Mourning, but Agony and Irony does deliver a nice sound, interesting lyrics, and the bonus album is a fun change to their sound.

I'd buy it again... on sale. July 10, 2008

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