Alkaline Trio — Crimson

Penning catchy and creepily comic songs about death, dying and all stages in between, this Chicago three-piece's music matches the colour of their hearts — black. In the two short years since their last album, 2003's Good Mourning, emo-punk has caught up to Alkaline Trio and they, in turn, have taken a decided turn for the morbid — they’ve morphed from winsome, heartsick boys into a pack of bitter, frightened young men suddenly self-conscious of their own mortality.

Fortunately, the AT haven't lost their edge. On Crimson, singer/guitarist Matt Skiba's throaty rasp and sardonic wit slice through the buzzing guitars and punchy post-retro rhythms of "Time To Waste" and "Prevents This Tragedy" like a machete through a nubile college co-ed in a b-grade slasher flick. The songs’ tragicomic Lemony Snicket-meets-Wes Craven lyrics paint their unfortunate events in colourful shades of black, grey and blood-red. A slicker, more professional sounding effort than their earlier work, this is sharp, radio-ready gloom-punk that makes death and dismemberment sound like good, wholesome fun.

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