Have you guys played the Emo Game? its a pretty awesome web based game, I think its still online. The game posited a rule of Emo: the rule of two. Supposedly Emo bands are so bitchy that they can only stand to be around each other for two albums, and if they stay together beyond that the albums start to blow totally. This delicate balance is maintained by all Emo people having special Emo ovaries.
I was a huge Alkaline Trio fan. "Maybe I'll Catch Fire" and "From here To Infirmary" were like the only good things about my high-school years. I don’t know if they were ever really “Emo” per se, but they were getting big at around the time that everyone who was hard to classify and sang in any way about relationships was getting classified as such. I always thought they were only an Emo band because they got drunk at the hotel bar and wandered into the convention. They were this weird Old School Punk/ Emo hybrid that rocked really hard. While the rest of the Emo genre was either fleeing the label or becoming really mediocre pop-emo hybrids, Alkaline Trio spent two albums rocking exceptionally hard. They had an earlier album, "Goddamnit", that I hear is good but cant seem to find. Anyway, then the rule of three set in, and their album “Good Mourning” didn't rock very hard. They didn't become more Emo, but they became less rock. The result was lukewarm.
So this album is a split CD made by Alkaline Trio and a band called One Man Army between “Good Mourning” and “Crimson.” You know how I spent all the last entry complaining about compilations? I have no problem with split CDs. Yeah, they often do not present music in its original context, but they usually contain new material that is organized to sound good in some way that allows you to sink your teeth into the material, while still introducing you to another band. The bands do not necessarily have anything to do with one another, but I can understand the need for promotional material and I’d rather get the chance to form my own opinion by listening to a split than be forced to watch an advertisement on YouTube.
This happens to be a particularly well done split. BYO Records are an independent punk label from southern California (where else) that is actively seeking to put portray punk in a more positive light. The split series was specifically intended, not to promote their label, but to create bonds between groups of fans in the punk scene. As opposed to other albums in the series, which are mostly covers, this album has only one cover (of a Damned song). Some of the material did end up on later albums, but some of this is unique to the split.
So This is a good value if you like the music. How I feel about the music comes down to how I feel Alkaline trio does here, and after several listens I say they do well. On my first listen I was pretty afraid that being on a split would show up how much they do not rock as much. Instead this felt like more of a return to form. Maybe “Good Mourning” was a fluke. I had asked friends about their other albums and heard bad things, but after this I may check out “Agony & Irony,” if for no other reason than the Harvey Danger reference.
One Man Army were discovered by Billie Joe Armstrong and their first two albums were put out by his record label before they moved to BYO for one album, and then broke up. They are a pretty solid punk band. The vocal delivery is in the vein of Guttermouth: they singer has the oddly scratchy voice that still is well able to carry a tune. They manage to avoid the Republican sympathies, thank god. When combine with the fun delivery the lyrics come off as very good. Word play is somewhat limited, but they flow naturally and take interesting angles on everything from nothing being on TV to enjoying playing punk rock music. How SoCal punk can you get? TV party anyone?
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this for the first listen or two but it has really grown on me. I am definitely keeping this. If you like or liked Alkaline Trio I would recommend this, and I will probably be checking out other stuff by One Man Army.
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