Alkaline Trio

Item: I Lied My Face Off
Author: Conrad

I Lied My Face Off

(1999)

Reviewed by Conrad

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Asian Man RecordsDecapolis1999

emo punk

Forget this EP crap, someone get me a full length of this band! This is the first album that I am giving an A, so you know I'm very picky - no, I mean discriminating (that sounds more professional). This band defines "rock power" - aggressive rock that's a PERFECT alliance of melody, creativity, lyricism and aggression. Their rock power starts off with them weird chords made popular by emo bands - but before you write them off, they actually stick to some sense of melody. (I compare them to emo bands, not because they are emo, but rather are in the emo creative vein. Their label considers them a "punk rock power trio." That sounds pretty close to me. I would hesitate to use "punk" because that puts them in the category of Lookout, Fat and Epitaph - which they are nowhere near. Enough boring category talk.)

Most bands who want to be creative with chords say, "If I put my fingers here, and here instead of here, it sounds weird, and weird is cool. Look at me, I'm creative. Look at me, I suck." Alkaline is creative within the standard tonal scales, which is why their vocal melodies work. Oh, am I talking about vocals now? Two, count 'em, two good vocalists - one incredible. They switch off singing lead. The first vocalist is oh-my-stars incredible (that's supposed to be an adjective). The songs that he sings get an A and A+. The songs the other guy sings get a B- and B+. And guess what, they even sing together - can it get any better? Apparently so, because this review is so stinkin' long.

On to song structure. Here's a patient band who knows how to make a song work, progress and build up. Two of their songs progress so far that the theme development takes over - naturally. This lends itself to huge, long climactic endings. The developments are almost as long as the main themes. This brings me to the next element of why these developments work: the drummer. This drummer is so good that I wept openly. I can say for a fact that this is my favorite drummer ever (besides Animal of course). You know how some emo drummers get so creative that they forget to keep a beat? Well this guy is crazy-creative, but at the same time he keeps the beat going. And there is the longest snare fill I have ever heard, which made me weep even more - this is when my contacts fell out. The second song isn't that great, but that's before the drummer starts to freak.

But I do have to add a few comments that aren't good. They've got a couple of cuss words, minus points. The other is that it was only an EP. It's a crime to tease me so. The best comment I can give this band is that I have listened to this EP nonstop since I got it.