Review: Alkaline Trio, ‘This Addiction’

7

SPIN Rating: 7 of 10
Release Date: February 23, 2010
Label: Heart & Skull/Epitaph

These goth-leaning pop punks went major label in 2008 with Agony & Irony, which, despite a Twilight-friendly vibe, didn’t earn them an AFI-style breakthrough. As a result, the group’s seventh studio album is back on an indie, but frontman Matt Skiba hardly sounds disappointed; instead, the cozier confines appear to have put the band at ease. Hooky, blood-soaked bad-love allegories such as “Draculina” and “Dine, Dine My Darling” (check the punny Misfits nod) satisfy like heartburn-inducing comfort food.