Alkaline Trio - Blood, Hair And Eyeballs

It’s been a tumultuous few years for Alkaline Trio but with tenth album ‘Blood, Hair and Eyeballs’ they have promised a return to basics, back to their original sound that the emo-punk crowd fell in love with all those years ago. ‘Hot For Preacher’ kicks off brightly, with gang vocals and a driving riff running rampant in the opening moments. Recorded at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606, the album does sound huge, even in its softer moments, and the singalong potential is apparent, especially here. But Alkaline Trio have always been consistent across their albums - you can safely assume what you’re going to get - and with ‘Blood, Hair and Eyeballs’, there’s something a bit too familiar. Whether it’s the late-‘00s hum of ‘Meet Me’ or the peak-emo drama of ‘Break’, large swathes of the record feel like well-trodden ground. There are however more promising spots, like ‘Versions Of You’ and ‘Scars’, which stand the best chance of muscling their way into a greatest hits set at some point. Clear highlights of the album, they possess the trademark punch, urgency and emotion that Alkaline Trio have always done so well. All told, ‘Blood, Hair and Eyeballs’ is a level, if somewhat uninteresting, addition to the Alkaline Trio lexicon. Fans will find pockets of the band they fell in love with, while less seasoned followers may be better served diving deeper into the back catalogue instead.