Canadian post-hardcore band Alexisonfire have always been a band of extremes. Melodic with the ugly, haunting with the shrill. You get the picture we’re painting here. While they quite obviously weren’t the first band to pull off extremes in this fashion, they’re certainly one of the best at it. Of course, when you’re armed with songwriters and musicians that are this good at songcraft, it all seems fairly easy.
Dallas Green, George Pettit, Wade MacNeil, and the rest of Alexisonfire were under pressure for Crisis, though. The album, the band’s third and released in 2006, had the tall task of following up both a beloved self-titled debut and sophomore album Watch Out!. Luckily, Crisis is a more immediate record for Alexisonfire in that it sinks its post-hardcore hooks into the listener almost right away. Having three vocalists that are distinct is a gift, and Alexisonfire make that clear right away on album opener “Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints”.
Lyrically, Alexisonfire are a cut above most bands in the genre as well. Take “Boiled Frogs”, for instance. While musically it’s one of the most distinct (and catchy AF) songs on the album, the subject matter is all too prescient for the time we live in currently. The song’s lyrics describe a time where vocalist George Pettit’s father’s boss tried to cheat him out of a pension, and considering the fact that many workers today feel their youth is slipping away from them, it’s all too relevant. The metaphor of a boiled frog even hits home, considering the propensity of many employers to force their employees to only feel like they’re punching a clock. Even the drumming is an integral part of what drives “Boiled Frogs” (and the album as a whole) along nicely.
The album’s title track is a nearly perfect embodiment of what makes Alexisonfire such a distinct band. Many bands in the genre either rely on shrapnel-laden screams or the melodic tones, and not nearly enough on both. But there’s a path carved in the aforementioned song for both viciousness and beauty. It’s much the same for “This Could Be Anywhere In The World”, which remains a great introduction to Alexisonfire considering how accessible it is for new listeners.
Dallas Green’s melodic vocals are featured more prominently on the record overall, but don’t let that fool you – Crisis is still a loud record. Despite their massive choruses, “Mailbox Arson” and “To A Friend” both carry weighty subject matter. Meanwhile, you might want to compare album closer “Rough Hands” to Watch Out‘s “Happiness By The Kilowatt”, and while they’re similar in tone, the former’s a slower, less aggressive song that still carries the same kind of power and memorability. We’ve all been there, right? Relationships where we just feel battered by the other person involved and wondering where it all went wrong. Alexisonfire manage to avoid clichés on these kinds of songs, and it’s impressive when you consider how easy it is to write about relationships in the same way most other bands do.
Clearly Alexisonfire struck a match on Crisis. Managing to avoid so many of the clichés that often typify the heavy + melodic brand of post-hardcore, it could have easily failed. Thankfully it didn’t, and with hardly anything one would deem as filler, Crisis is just as impressive as the band’s previous work.
