Canada’s best screamo band has a lot of hype to fill in their new album. After songs like “Pulmonary Archery”, “.44 Caliber Love Letter”, and “Accidents,” fans got into a groove of what Alexisonfire was producing. They brought a new sound to screamo. They stuck with the basics of screamo (which is just simply being angry emo.) However, something fans didn’t expect from Alexisonfire was their use of heavy harmonies in their guitars, and the excellent vocals of Dallas Green.
Dallas Green single-handedly raises Alexisonfire above most screamo bands. His voice is captivating and it certainly brings a brand new sound to this genre. With the release of their song “Accidents,” Alexisonfire also brought some of the indie/emo back. With reminiscence of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Texas is the Reason, they took screamo to a whole new level.
With all these things playing a factor into Alexisonfire’s repertoire, fans surely must have been wondering what “Crisis” had in store.
“Crisis” brought out the hardcore influence in Alexisonfire. With the use of more bass than usual, and the standard hardcore guitar riffs, they added another genre of music to their “melting pot.”
The first song on the album, “Drunks, Lovers, Sinners, and Saints” has all these qualities. It has Dallas Green being one of the best vocalists ever, it has the indie sound with the ambience going on in the background, and it has the hardcore sound with George, the lead vocalist screaming with more of a deeper tone, as oppose to the high pitch screaming found in a lot of screamo and post-hardcore.”
Going into the hardcore influence the most, the song “Mailbox Arson” has the hardcore influence. If you wanted to, you could easily classify this song as post-hardcore when it began. This song resembles a lot of early post-hardcore songs.
If you are only into the new post-hardcore sound (Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, TREOS) then this album might not be for you. But you never know, Alexisonfire keeps on adding new influences to their music, so its very easy for any fan of any music to enjoy this album.