Alexisonfire - Crisis
Rating
RIYL
A Static LullabySilverstein
Dead Poetic
Senses Fail
Release Date
08/22/2006
Label
Vagrant RecordsTracklist
1. Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints2. This Could Be Anywhere In the World
3. Mailbox Arson
4. Boiled Frogs
5. We Are the Sound
6. You Burn First
7. We Are the End
8. Crisis
9. Keep It on Wax
10. To a Friend
11. Rough Hands
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The first time I heard Dallas Green’s voice I was transfixed; it was angelic without resorting to falsetto and emotional without being whiny. I often introduce my wife to indie bands, since I spend more time surfing webzines and message boards, and when I put songs by Dallas’ acoustic side project, City and Colour, on mixes for her, she too fell in love. I reminded her that although Dallas sounded great alongside gentle strumming, his main band was called Alexisonfire; and, in my opinion, the transcendent quality of his voice is magnified when it weaves through alternately punchy and spacey guitars and is juxtaposed with the raspy screams of fellow member, George Pettit. And as big of a fan as I am of Dallas’ voice in City and Colour, his lyrics for that outfit are atrocious, and miraculously seem to get better in Alexisonfire. Even though she has never been able to tolerate harsh vocals, she expressed interest in hearing Alexisonfire, so I played her Watch Out!, a record I was quite fond of. Not surprisingly, she quickly asked me to turn it off, wearied by Pettit’s presence.
You may be asking yourselves what my wife has to do with Crisis. Well, recently on a whim I included “Boiled Frogs” on a mixtape for her and her previous aversion became infatuation. I was already planning to review Crisis for Decoy, and as I pondered her curiously inconsistent response, my inchoate ideas crystallized: I not only had an angle for my review, I realized why Alexisonfire’s latest is a vast improvement over its predecessor. I won’t focus on their self-titled debut, except to say, because of its uniquely technical guitar work and raw production — which can seem to augment an album’s energy — I understand why many fans won’t be impressed by Crisis. It’s focused not on the spontaneous, slickly produced, but rather the organic, and relies little on insane guitar leads and breakneck tempos.
So we know that Crisis is a completely different beast than their self-titled, but is it really that far removed from Watch Out? I believe not. There are many similarities, especially the songs on the new record that recall ones from the previous — and that Alexisonfire has significantly improved upon a formula that was successful but in need of tweaking. Their bi-polar vocal tactic is now much more balanced and natural and the music rarely strays or takes an unnecessary turn. This fully-realized sense extends throughout the record, giving it a finished, seamless effect on the listener.
This is not to say that the record is without blemishes; after five great tracks, there is not only a lull but a train wreck in the inclusion of “You Burn First,” a track featuring Planes Mistaken For Stars vocalist Gared O’Donnell. It’s not that the track isn’t good — which it isn’t — but that it significantly disrupts the album’s flow. Guitarist Wade MacNeil appears to have more of a presence on Crisis which is somewhat of a good thing, since his backing vocals make for an even more layered approach. For him to essentially take on lead duties, however, on the track “Keep It on Wax”, which by the way is about former drummer Jesse Ingelevics’ trash-talking, is to turn Crisis into The Goo Goo Dolls’ Dizzy Up the Girl: a good pop record prevented from being great because of bassist Robby Takac’s shitty songs.
There is also the album’s final track, “Rough Hands,” which isn’t great on its own, and even worse when compared to Watch Out’s great closer “Happiness By the Killowatt.” Still, even with these errors Crisis simply has too many excellent tracks for me to subtract more than a point from its score. I will examine these songs so that if you obtain the album illegally and wish to burn the MP3s to a CD, you’ll know which to include and which to not waste space with.
The album begins wonderfully with “Drunks, Lovers, Sinners, and Saints,” a song that the band proclaims “Is from our hearts!” I’ll admit that the generic title didn’t have me expecting much, but then I remembered that Alexisonfire isn’t exactly purveying a novel variety of music; they just do it better than most U.S. acts. Another aspect of the song that initially worried me was Dallas’ brief presence, as “Drunks” mostly consists of George’s screams. Dallas and Wade do tag team the chorus, a refrain of “Are you pretending? Are you even listening?” Although I usually think of George as merely something to balance Dallas’ impassioned croons, he participates in the song’s highlight segment. After the first chorus, everything subsides save drums and a distorted guitar. This “calm-before-the-storm” moment” direction in the song causes the listener to anticipate an onslaught. As is often the case with assumptions about Alexisonfire, however, you'd be only half right. George appears, ferocious and defiant, seemingly empowered by the knife of distortion he clutches in his hand, and repeating the memorable line “We ride to fight!” but instead of being tempered by the usual Dallas melody, a snaky, spacey guitar line assumes the forefront, relegating the distorted one to the peripheral.
“This Could Be Anywhere in the World” is the album’s first single and a fitting choice since it shares many characteristics with a traditional power ballad. What prevents it from being Alexisonfire’s equivalent of Hoobastank’s awful “The Reason” is all the small touches it possesses: the graceful hi-hat, Dallas stretching out the last words of the verse as George’s screams overlap, Dallas’ emotional emphasis: I can’t BELIEVE this is where I live, and the ghostly acoustic break — the ethereal vibe echoing the chorus lyrics — before the final refrain.
“Boiled Frogs” is Crisis’ “Accidents,” and in many ways exceeds it; both the music and lyrics are more sophisticated. The song title comes from the metaphor the band selected to illustrate the unfair and unfortunate employments of their respective parents. There is a saying that if you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out of the pot. If you put the frog in cold water, however, and slowly increase the temperature, the frog will fall asleep and die. This is what happened to the band members’ parents: even though they were given gradual, yet hardly substantial, pay raises, by the time they realized they had worked shit jobs all their lives, it was too late. Interestingly, though, the lyrics of “Boiled Frogs” add depth to matter of job frustration and its inevitable result — ontological confusion. “Boiled Frogs” has a triumphant feel, but the words issued by the speakers evince at once a cognizance of and aim to right the conditions, yet a persistent possibility of futility. Great songs are all about possibilities, especially their dual nature. As the song begins in upbeat fashion, the potential for change exists, yet Dallas soon articulates the current inability of communication: “Your signal fades away, and all I’m left with is noise.” Immediately after in the chorus, however, Dallas’ frustration turns to confidence: “So wait up, I’m not sleeping alone again tonight.” This blurred division between desperation and action is best expressed in the bridge: George bluntly expresses everything wrong with company employment, in images of pension checks, punching clocks, and a frog suffocated in an environment in which he can’t say no. And then the requisite gang vocals rage: is it a rallying cry, a paean of something already accomplished, or wail of failure. The ambiguity is sealed with Dallas’ last words: “Between the light and shallow waves is where I'm going to die.”
“We Are the Sound” is my personal favorite song for many reasons: the contrast between rapid verses, and slow, yet massive chorus where Dallas has never sounded better; the gang vocals that come when the listener expects the normal chorus, expressing the seemingly contradictory “We are the sound! We have no voice!”; and a controlled use of George, who has a tendency to overwhelm.
After the boring and cheesy “Keep It on Wax,” Crisis’s brilliance returns with “To a Friend,” a track that simultaneously contains some of the album’s heaviest and most melodic moments. Spacey guitar surges as George surfaces, his scream full of spit and ire. The bludgeoning subsides as Dallas speaks of someone “suffering for, [his] pride or personal war” who could easily be George W, especially given the final words, “It’s nobody’s battle but your own.” The chorus is Alexisonfire perfection: Dallas effortlessly sliding over guitars with smooth vocals just breathy enough, listen to his casual “oh, I” after “you’ll take my side”, and George barking the yang response to Dallas’ yin call.
Crisis certainly surprised me not so much for its own offerings, but in how it made me revaluate my fondness for Watch Out! Now when I listen to that record I think it feels patchy and forced. In some ways it seems unfortunate that a band’s new record makes you dislike a previous release, but what are they creating records for if not to best previous output? I have confidence that with the next album Alexisonfire will iron out even more difficulties so that they can score a 5 with this reviewer. If they had excised a few tracks, not lost energy and inspiration in the album’s middle section, and included “Charlie Sheen Vs. Henry Rollins” instead, they might have made a perfect record.
--Stephen Chamberlain
Comments
Minneapolis, MN
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Minnesota
I totally do :)
I thought Crisis was as close to garbage as Alexisonfire could create. I tried and tried to like it since I love WatchOut, but there's just nothing to bring me back to it. Crisis = letdown of the year.
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Dallas, Texas
I listened to Crisis a couple of times and simply shooved it aside feeling unimpressed. But because you went through so much trouble, Stephen... I'll listen to it some more.
Ditto. Except Crisis has grown on me and I enjoy listening to it..well, all but "You Burn Fist".
Toronto, Ontario
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GO RED SOX!!!!!!!!
Drummondville, Quebec
I couldn't agree more with you!! This record is a HUGE let down!!
I was a big big fan of Watch Out! and the S/T records but Crisis is just boring. There are no more good guitars parts and everything seems to be based on Dallas' voice. I like his voice, but AOF is way more than just his voice!
Where is the originality? Where are the instrumental parts?
Edmonton, AB
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Minnesota
Zach who? We don't have a Zach on staff. And even if we did, I highly doubt there's any way of it topping one of Stephen's reviews.
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SCV, CA
This one took a few listens to get into, but it is now an album I listen to fairly often.
Los Angeles
postrockpaperscissors
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Las Vegas, NV
Charleston, SC
Montreal, Canada
http://www.dinealonerecords.com/bands/blacklungs/
And by the way, I stick with Self-Titled > Crisis > Watch Out!
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Los Angeles
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Toronto, Ontario
Moneen.
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My Top Songs of '09
The Appleseed Cast//as the little things go
Caspian//sycamore
Sunwrae//Chinook Winds
Dredg//down to the seller
If These Trees Could Talk//the sun is in the north
From Monument to Masses//an ounce of prevention
Straylight Run//i'm through with the past
LpShinobi's Post-Rock and Shoegazing Recommendation, via YouTube
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Sacramento, CA
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Drummondville, Quebec
there u go!