Alkaline Trio – Damnesia

In today’s musical climate, “best-of” releases are generally useless. It’s nice to have all the best songs in one collection but with playlists and iPods, you can easily make your own “best-of” for any band with the songs you, personally, prefer.

To celebrate their fifteenth anniversary, Chicago’s Alkaline Trio have release a unique “best-of” that breaks away from that problem as Damnesia sees the band re-recording semi-acoustic versions of their favourite songs from their lengthy career. Stripping down everything to a soft combination of acoustic guitars, piano and percussions, Damnesia is an acoustic album in the same vein of Dave Hause’sResolutions.

Unlike Resolutions though, only three songs on here are previously unheard. Olde English 800 is a high energy, minute-and half acoustic number about drinking malt liquor with Skiba and the gang upping the tempo for the first time in the album. They follow that up with the one of the album highlights: a cover of The Violent Femmes’ I Held Her In My Arms which makes me think that I’m missing out on the awesomeness that The Violent Femmes must be. Dan Adriano takes over the vocal duties for the final new song, I Remember A Rooftop, that follows in the footsteps of Blue Carolina and Blue In The Face (which, coincidently, is redone here as well).

The remaining twelve tracks span their career, with re-imagined versions of Nose Over Tail, Every Thug Needs A Lady, Private Eye, Radio and more. In general, the band has added an extra layer of darkness over everything, creating more ominously driven songs. Some remain in the same up-tempo pattern as their original, Calling All Skeletons and Mercy Me for instance; while others see them slowing it down. This Could Be Love is darker than ever before, more brooding with thunderous drums and haunting keys to add extra depth to the already eerie chorus.  The American Scream is pushed forward with the same adjustments yet We’ve Had Enough takes a serious step back in this unfocused acoustic rendition.

Still, the biggest shock comes from the realization that despite being culled from albums spanning fifteen years, Damnesia is extremely cohesive. The songs work together, whether they be from 1998 or 2010. As a whole, most of the original versions still stand strong and are oftentimes better; nevertheless, avid Alkaline Trio fans like myself will be pleasantly surprised with the results as this is far from your stereotypical “best-of” money grab.