This Addiction

Judging by what’s on offer on perennial punk rock hopefuls Alkaline Trio’s seventh record, their particular brand of bubblegum rock has lost its flavour. Sounding like a carbon copy of their last few LPs, there is nothing new to report here. The Misfits nods are still in place (‘Dine, Dine My Darling’), the mid-paced radio songs are there in abundance (‘Draculina,’ ‘Dead On The Floor’) and singer Matt Skiba sounds like he’s going through the motions. To paraphrase a famous slogan: American punk’s not dead – it just sucks now.