Agony & Irony

Infobox Album |
Name = Agony & Irony
Type = Studio
Artist = Alkaline Trio


Released = flagicon|Australia June 28, 2008
flagicon|Canada flagicon|United States July 1, 2008
Length = 39:42
Genre = Punk rock
Alternative rock
Label = Epic (US)
V2 (Europe)
Producer = Josh Abraham
Mixed by =
Reviews =
*AbsolutePunk.net (81%) [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=376261 link]
*Allmusic rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hnfexzujld0e link]
*The A.V. Club (B+) [http://www.avclub.com/content/music/alkaline_trio link]
*Bombshellzine.com rating|4|5 [http://www.bombshellzine.com/lowdowns/08archive/260508.htm link]
* Blender rating|3|5 [http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=5191 link]
*Consequence of Sound rating|3|5 [http://consequenceofsound.net/2008/07/05/album-review-agony-irony/ link]
*Kerrang! rating|4|5
*Punknews.org rating|4|5 [http://www.punknews.org/review/7428 link]
*Rockmidgets.com rating|4|5 [http://rockmidgets.com/releases.php?p=1&page=3&id=2784 link]
*Rolling Stone rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/alkalinetrio/albums/album/21342109/review/21470256/agony__irony link]
*Strange Glue rating|3|5 [http://strangeglue.com/reviews/alkaline-trio-agony-and-irony link]
*Thrash Hits rating|4.5|6 [http://www.thrashhits.com/2008/08/album-alkaline-trio-agony-irony/ link]
*TheyWillRockYou.com rating|4|5 [http://www.theywillrockyou.com/reviews/index.php/reviews/agony_irony link]
*Trax Magazine rating|4|5

Last album = "Agony & Irony EP"
(2008)
This album = "Agony & Irony"
(2008)
Next album =
Misc = Singles
Name = Agony & Irony
Type = studio
single 1 = Help Me
single 2 = I Found Away
single 1 date = April 28, 2008
single 2 date = Fall 2008

"Agony & Irony" is the sixth studio album by Alkaline Trio, released on July 1, 2008 on Epic Records. Matt Skiba states that the band set out to record a "hard rock record" that is "anthemic and sing-a-long-ey." [http://www.bombshellzine.com/newspage/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3306]

A year prior to the album's release, "In Vein", was performed live at Warped Tour 2007, streamed on the band's offical fanclub on April 3 and was uploaded to the band's MySpace site for 24 hours the following day.

On April 22 an EP with the same title was released on iTunes. The EP featured two tracks which had already been heard by fans and a new song entitled 'Into The Night'.

The album's first single, "Help Me", was released to radio stations on April 28, 2008. The second single has been confirmed to be "I Found Away". [http://www.bombshellzine.com/newspage/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3306] and a video will be shot in the fall of 2008.

Title

In an interview promoting the album, Matt Skiba cites that:

"there’s a theme of duality on the record, it’s sort of a spin on ‘ebony and ivory’ which of course represents black and white. The songs on the new album sort of represent a struggle between good and evil, light and dark, and despair and hope. We felt "Agony and Irony" was appropriate, I mean we fancy ourselves as being pretty clever, and we felt a play on words was also fitting for the new record." [http://www.bombshellzine.com/newspage/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3306]

Influences

Regarding the record's sound and influences, Skiba mentions that he:

"was listening to a lot of Pat Benetar, Def Leppard and a lot of the 80’s MTV music that I grew up with. So that was a big influence in the writing process, bands like The Cars."

Track listing

"All Tracks by Alkaline Trio"
#"Calling All Skeletons" - 3:19
#"Help Me" - 3:44
#"In Vein" - 3:57
#"Over And Out" - 3:14
#"I Found Away" - 4:01
#"Do You Wanna Know?" - 3:36
#"Live Young, Die Fast" - 4:14
#"Love Love, Kiss Kiss" - 3:25
#"Lost And Rendered" - 3:23
#"Ruin It" - 3:36
#"Into The Night" - 3:23

Bonus Tracks

*"In My Stomach" - 3:53 (iTunes Bonus Track)
*"Love Love, Kiss Kiss (Acoustic)" - 3:08 (Australian Bonus Track)
*"Fire Down Below" - 3:43 (Japanese Bonus Track)

Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc

#"Burned Is the House" - 4:26
#"Maybe I'll Catch Fire (Acoustic)" - 3:04
#"Live Young, Die Fast (Acoustic)" - 3:19
#"Into The Night (Acoustic)" - 3:12
#"Over And Out (Acoustic)" - 2:47
#"Lost And Rendered (Acoustic)" - 3:13

References

External links

* [http://www.alkalinetrio.com/settlethescore Settle The Score Contest]
* [http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/upcoming_releases/alkaline_trio_release_agony_and_irony_ep.html Agony & Irony EP Details]
* [http://www.punknews.org/article/28408 Agony & Irony Details]