On their tenth studio album, 2024's
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, Chicago's journeyman goth-punk outfit
Alkaline Trio deliver a blistering, yet still emotionally tender evocation of apocalyptic angst. The album arrives six years after 2018's
Is This Thing Cursed?, the longest gap in the group's career and one which found singer/guitarist
Matt Skiba splitting his time as a member of
blink-182. It also marks the trio's final go with drummer
Derek Grant who, although he does play on the album, amicably parted ways with the group just after they finished recording. Produced by
Cameron Webb (
Bayside,
Pennywise),
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs finds
Skiba and bassist/vocalist
Dan Andriano refocusing their energies, embracing the caustic power of their early work and balancing it with their knack for big, swooning '50s rock-esque choruses. The album also features some of the best guitar work of the band's career, full of the sawtooth riffs that conjure both basement punk show excitement and heavy metal stadium euphoria. The album's title is purportedly a phrase
Skiba's mom heard while working as an emergency room nurse on particularly rough nights. It also seems to encapsulate the mood of the album, one that feels informed by an increasingly fraught political and environmental landscape. Yet
Alkaline Trio remain steadfast, and songs like "Bad Time," "Scars," and "Broken Down in a Time Machine" detail stories of people reaching for love as the world seemingly falls apart around them. It's a vibe they underline on the anthemic "Meet Me" in which
Skiba croons, "I just cannot seem to get my rotten head/Around this mess surrounding us and/As the sky is falling, I'll fall into your arms." That kind of desperation might seem overly dark or tragic in someone else's hands, but
Alkaline Trio are transcendent. More than just a bright spot in their career,
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs is a beacon of romantic punk defiance. ~ Matt Collar