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Label: Rise Records
Released: 26th January 2024
At what point does a return to form become a renaissance? After a couple of middling efforts, pop-punkers Alkaline Trio bounced back in 2018 with the brilliant ‘Is This Thing Cursed?’ and have followed it up with the equally sublime ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’.
Much of ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’ will be instantly familiar to longtime fans. From the atmospheric, spidery guitar work of ‘Meet Me’ and ‘Versions of You’ – both of which could have come straight off ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’ – to the comically dark lyrics and colourful turn of phrases (‘Broken Down in a Time Machine’ and the title track), much of ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’ is the sound of a band returning to the peak of their power by doing what they do best.
But that’s not to say ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’ is comfortable. There are a few surprises sprinkled throughout – jump scares, if you will – timed perfectly to grab the attention. For example, the opening track ‘Hot for Preacher’ comes armed with a boundless riff and is possibly the heaviest they’ve ever sounded, while ‘Scars’ leans into Dan Andriano’s bluesy punk rock work with The Falcon. Both cuts are uniformly excellent, but they break the band out of any sense of complacency and familiarity.
All of which leads back to the opening question. Now, 10 albums into a career that’s spanned 25 years, the current salvo of records isn’t far off the quality of the records released in their Asian Man or Vagrant Records pomp. Indeed, Alkaline Trio have aged somewhat better than many of their peers, and there’s a verve to the likes of ‘Shake With Me’ and outstanding closer ‘Teenage Heart’ that elevates ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’ to the upper echelons of their extensive discography.
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