Good Mourning

by Alkaline Trio

Overview

Good Mourning is the handsome if dark-eyed offspring of the deliberately melodic From Here to Infirmary LP and Alkaline Trio's more raucous earlier work. Whether or not the band "sold out" (or whatever) when Infirmary arrived with the stamp of ambitious indie Vagrant, the set nevertheless seemed forced. For Good Mourning, Derek Grant replaces Mike Felumlee behind the kit, joining the grating-like-gouda voices and ringing guitars of Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano on the AT's second Vagrant outing. It's an album that kills with catchiness. Though "This Could Be Love" details the steps a jilted lover would take to off him, Skiba's melodic sensibility is hard not to hum along to. Similarly, the triumphant final key change of "Continental" makes its bitter farewell to a suicide victim easier to swallow. This dichotomy between deathly fascination and darn-right pop sensibility continues throughout Good Mourning. Despite making one take a few extra looks at the black and red lyric booklet, it also points to the Trio's newfound confidence to weave its tortured pathos untreated into punk-pop hair shirts for teenagers everywhere. The laughs continue with "Emma" and "Fatally Yours," which features the classic couplet "You crashed your car through the front door/I pulled you from the wreckage/You told me that you missed me/But you meant with the grill and hood." Unlike their doe-eyed emo-punk peers, the Alkaline Trio's take on true love is closer to love-hate. "Donner Party (All Night)" is a snow angel in a blizzard of punk-fueled melody, where the dried blood looks black on the nighttime snowpack. Finally, a glimmer of hope shines from a crack in the mortuary curtains. Good Mourning closes with the plaintive acoustic number "Blue in the Face." The song's last line is a grudging request, but one that admits the faults of both parties, and accepts them as a better reality than the death wishes, dour proclamations, and damning dreams of sunlight that dominate the majority of the record. But even as the coffin closes, anthemic melody reflects in the blood pooled on the floor. ~ Johnny Loftus

Product Details

Release Date:	06/09/2023
Label:	Vagrant
UPC:	4050538803716
Rank:	4850

Tracks

Disc 1

1. This Could Be Love
2. We've Had Enough
3. One Hundred Stories
4. Continental
5. All on Black
6. Emma
7. Fatally Yours
8. Every Thug Needs a Lady

Disc 2

9. Blue Carolina
10. Donner Party (All Night)
11. If We Never Go Inside
12. Blue in the Face
13. Dead End Road
14. Old School Reasons

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alkaline Trio   Primary Artist
Matt Skiba   Guitar,Vocals
Daniel Andriano   Bass,Vocals
Derek Grant   Drums

Technical Credits

Joe McGrath   Engineer,Producer,Recording
Alkaline Trio   Design,Composer,Layout Design
Mike Fasano   Drum Technician
Brian Gardner   Mastering
Jerry Finn   Mixing,Producer
Matt Skiba   Composer
Jason Gossman   Assistant Engineer
Chris Holmes   Assistant Engineer
Derek Grant   Composer
Keith Moon   Layout Design
Jay Blakesberg   Photography
Dan Andriano   Composer