Alkaline Trio- Agony & Irony (***½)

In many ways, it’s appropriate that Alkaline Trio’s sixth studio album is titled Agony & Irony. For one thing, the “agony” is just as apparent as it always has been, with guitarist Matt Skiba and bassist Dan Andriano conjuring images of heartbreak and depression, tempering it with a slight twist of the occult for camp’s sake. But the “irony” comes from how the material presents itself sonically in this 2008 version of the Trio.

It’s slickly produced, slicker than a used car salesman.

And if Good Mourning was the nail in the coffin for bitter and angry Alkaline Trio, with Crimson being a gloomy exploration of the band’s afterlife, then Agony & Irony lends itself to an almost hopeful resonance and a rebirth. While the Trio have not traded their macabre lyrics of alcohol and heartbreak for unicorns and sunflowers, it’s clear that there is almost an undercurrent of hope this time around.

Nowhere is it more apparent than on the lead single, “Help Me.” Instead of channeling Skiba’s beer soaked scalpel of a voice set to buzz saw gutter punk, the group opts for limber pianos, driving power-pop, and Skiba’s Pro-Tools laced croon. While the hook of, “You're up there/Took the stairs/To the stars all alone/You left all the lights burning/But nobodies home…” plants itself in your head for days, the lack of eerie atmospheres and caustic grit might make fans double check which album they’ve just put on.

The song styles are jarringly different from most of Alkaline Trio’s back catalog on Agony & Irony. In fact, the album itself sports an increased reliance on samples, compressed overdrive, keyboards, and piano lines. And it seems this new glossy sound solely falls on the shoulders of the band’s choice to use Josh Abraham as the producer.

While Jerry Finn’s production on Crimson helped the songs to exude menacing and tense soundscapes, Abraham polishes most of the tracks here into something non-threatening and into a potential cross over hit. “I Found Away” had real potential, with it’s picking guitar lines and rapid fire chorus. Unfortunately, the New Wave inspired drumming from Derek Grant, the clusterfuck of synthesizers, and campy spoken word introduction really take the edge off of Skiba’s narrative.

Nearly every track on this album has that “oh too sensitive piano melody” or “dense synthesizer for texture” and it distracts the listener, making tracks and melodies blend together too much rather than making them stand out. In fact, when the band is at its most basic drums, guitar, and bass core is when it’s really rolling.

“In Vein” is easily the album’s real stab at greatness. Building from a staccato guitar riff, the rolling bass and highly energetic drumming all compliments Andriano’s velvety smooth voice with its sinister black humor. It’s classic Trio, playing to their mournful misanthropy with pop brilliance. The track is probably one of the few times on the album that the music isn’t produced to the gills, with a messy and ambient feedback soaked bridge that augments the off-kilter groove.

Elsewhere, “Calling All Skeletons” sports Skiba at his most self-depreciating, set against swirling melodies and choppy guitar lines. The messy and chunky rhythms provide some real meat and potatoes for fans to sink their teeth into as Skiba rails about loss and secrets. It’s disjointed, angular, and exciting, with some real exciting changes in melody as the song progresses.

But part of the problem is in the band’s choice how they construct these arrangements. Alkaline Trio seemed to be preoccupied with 3-4 minute mid-tempo rockers this time around and the result can frustrate listeners. There is virtually nothing that separates “Do You Wanna Know?” and “Live Young, Die Fast” except for their singers. While none of the tracks on Agony & Irony suffer from bad lyrics, or bad melodies, there is a specific absence of extraordinary ones.

If there’s one area the album has strength, it’s in the group’s ability to write a damn catchy chorus. “Love Love, Kiss Kiss” simply overflows with Andriano’s black sarcasm set to choppy power-pop guitars. It’s a moment on the album where everything saccharine seems to work, where the careful construction doesn’t sterilize the music but actually makes it pack quite a punch. And in these moments, it’s hard not to love the record.

Ultimately, there is nothing glaringly wrong with Agony & Irony except for the fact that there aren’t a lot of dynamics to the songs. There isn’t much tension, no sense of danger, no edge, and the songs feel fairly typical offering no real innovations. But the album grows on you. The melodies sink into your head even if they are practicably by-the-numbers at times, and they definitely warrant repeated listens. And while Alkaline Trio might be reaching upwards towards fluffy clouds and acceptance in their older age, let’s hope something plunges them back down to Hell for their next album.

Because in all honesty, it’s a place they always felt more daring and experimental to share how miserable they were.

Sounds Like: Patent Pending (Heavens), I Am The Movie (Motion City Soundtrack), Music From Regions Beyond (Tiger Army)

Key Cuts: Calling All Skeletons, In Vein, Love Love, Kiss Kiss