Crisis? What crisis?
Storming out from the land that brings us lumberjacks, beavers, moose and mounties, Alexisonfire have slowly built up a large fan base with their part screamo, part emo and part hardcore flavoured music. Following on from the success of their two previous albums – 'Alexisonfire' and 'Watch Out' – 'Crisis' gives us a more mature sound with the usual mixture of styles that the buyers of around 28,000 copies of their previous albums in the UK, would expect.
There is an explosive start in first track, 'Drunks, Lovers, Sinners & Saints' whereby singer Dallas Green shouts "This is from our hearts!" and you can truly believe this in the raw passion that is on offer here. 'This Could Be Anywhere In The World' has me thinking of the soft side of a band like SOAD, with screamo parts gate-crashng the gentle melodic vocals, whilst we have stronger Hardcore leanings in 'Mailbox Arson' and 'To A Friend' that could have you thinking of an older Avenged Sevenfold or the fabulous Thrice.
Frantic riffing and mostly hardcore screams make up, 'We Are Sound' whilst everything changes to such an extent on 'You Burn First' that I'm looking to see whether this is in fact still the same band. Slow and haunting, the song could well be a German industrial band, er, doing what German industrial bands do best! The reason behind this may or may not have something to do with the guest vocals of Gared O'Donnell, whose raspy vocals are usually found fronting hardcore band Planes Mistaken For Stars.
The gentle piano playing then atmospheric strings give last song 'Rough Hands' a depth that proclaims maturity and even the screaming seems toned down and almost gentle. After almost being knocked out by Dallas Green at a gig in Oxford when he charged off of the stage whilst in full screamo mode, it's hard to see him singing gently, but let's hope he keeps his clothes on now!
Possibly bubbling just underneath current popular bands, Alexisonfire are growing in the popularity stakes and winning the Best New Band in their homeland last year, and having also been nominated for Band Of The Year by Spin.com, it's obvious that they are doing something right.
Alexisonfire fans will not be disappointed by this release which potentially gives them more value for money than their previous releases. Crisis? What crisis?