Okay…point blank: I have never listened to Alkaline Trio. For serious. Never. They’re just one of them bands that I’ve heard of for a while (12 years or so, I’m guessing?) and never went out of my way to stick ’em in my ear. So I heard they were one of them there “pop-punk bands,” right? And a shit-ton of bands wanna sound like ’em?

Well, this ain’t that bad. It’s poppy, catchy and there’s this repetitive mention of drugs or death or death from drugs throughout the whole album. That’s cool in my book. Real digestible “punk” — not too macho, not too pussified. Kinda happy-go-lucky with a hint of “sigh.” Hah! They’ve got a tune called “Dine, Dine My Darling” and it’s not some Weird Al-esque take on the Misfits song.

Thirteen tracks long and four acoustical versions of previous songs which is kinda cool to hear, but was it needed? Nice to have on there anyways.

I’m thinking if you love these dudes then you’re all over this. And if you never heard of them then this would make you want to take a quick gander at their back catalogue.

I dunno….I might.

(Epitaph Records, 2798 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026)