Alkaline Trio

Item: From Here to Infirmary
Author: Tom Bastian

From Here to Infirmary

(2001)

Reviewed by Tom Bastian

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Label Vagrant RecordsDecapolis2001

pop punk punk

The Alkaline Trio is one of those bands that I fell in love with the minute I first heard them. It was back in my days in college radio when Asian Man Records sent our radio station a copy of the first Alkaline Trio full length. I remember playing the heck out of that CD. Out of all the other "punk rock" bands out at the time the Alkaline Trio had something that helped them stand apart from the rest. That something was the dual vocal stylings of Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano as well as the drumming of Glenn Porter. Well Glenn is no longer in the band and an equally amazing drummer named Mike Felumlee (formerly of the Smoking Popes) has stepped in.

"From Here to Infirmary" is a bit more polished and "punk rock" than their previous releases but just as good if not better than anything else the band has released. They have also seemed to lose some of the more indie/emo touches that the first full-length had. The lyrics are still just as catchy, melodic and creative as before and Matt and Dan's vocals are stronger than ever. In the past Matt tended to have the stronger vocals and that still holds true. But on this release Dan's vocals are at an all time best. Dan actually sings lead on one of my favorite tracks on this release; "I'm Dying Tomorrow". The opening track "Private Eye" makes for my favorite Alkaline Trio song to date. It has this groove that just seems to move you and the lyrics are very catchy as well.

Like most of the bands on the Vagrant Records roster the Alkaline Trio are really taking off. This is a band worth checking out and definitely a band that has a shot of seeing their faces on MTV sometime soon.