Alexisonfire – Crisis

I consistently say to my friends that I’m not a fan of Alexisonfire, and yet, if you look in my CD collection, I own all three of their CDs (all I’m missing is their split with Moneen which is a surprising hole in my collection). Furthermore, I’ve still somehow managed to see them a handful of times, either in headlining or opening spots. They consistently impress me with their live show, yet, I still say “it’s not my style”. With the CDs, the same thing always seems to happen. The CD comes out, and I don’t care, but then everyone talks about it. They say it’s amazing, that it’s so good, and I get intrigued. I go in there knowing I won’t like it, but I still go and get myself the CD – just to hear what all the fuss is about. And while I will still say I’m not a huge fan of the band, there’s no denying that the band has incredible talent and Crisis will become the staple release of their career.

The album is solid from start to finish, with only one slight hiccup, which is forgivable because it’s still a good song. You Burn First, with the angrily spoken vocal delivery by Gared O’Donnell of Planes Mistaken For Stars, puts a slight bump in the flow of the angry, heavy album. But other than that, the album is nearly flawless. The remaining tracks on Crisis show a remarkable improvement from the band; where Watch Out! improved on their self-titled effort, Crisis has improved ten-fold on Watch Out!. Musically, they are as diverse as you can imagine, while still keeping in the post-hardcore vein- but their able to bring it back a notch to a slightly softer sound on tracks like Rough Hands too.

Of course, while the music was always bearable, it was always the vocals which forced me to head the other way with Alexisonfire. On Watch Out! they improved on this, letting Dallas and Wade take a bit of the vocals duties, and on Crisis they did it once again. George Petit’s signature voice is still there in all force, just listen to the opener, Drunks,Lovers,Sinners And Saints, and you’ll hear his voice attack you viciously mere seconds into the album; but the vocals seem to be delivered in a much more thought out and conservative manner. It’s still a steady stream of screams, but the vocals are finally becoming slightly discernible; and of course, Wade and Dallas are much more of a factor to the songs here. The addition of the two drastically different vocal styles (who are vastly different from each other too) make for a layered sound of intertwined, dueling vocals.

I will still say that I’m not a fan of Alexisonfire, but lately I’ve been forced to add more to that statement. I used to say “I don’t like them, but they put on a damn good live show;” now, I’ll have to say “I don’t like them, but they put on a damn good live show, and Crisis fucking impressed me to no ends” – and in a way, that says it all.