With three years off between albums, and a ton of side projects in the interim, Alexisonfire have reemerged with a new release. It seems like the breather has done them well, as Old Crows/Young Cardinals is bringing the band back as a machine that sounds more mature, and more punk rock. It’s easily their best release yet.
One thing that makes the album so much better than previous AOF is the vocals of George Petit. The one-two-three punch of vocals from Petit and guitarists Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil has long-elevated Alexisonfire over many of their post-hardcore contemporaries, and while that hasn’t gone away, Petit has traded his screaming in for vocals that are grating and gravel-coated.
What prompted the change? Who knows? Maybe it was the influence of the band members’ numerous projects outside of AOF, like City and Colour, Hunter and F***ed Up. Maybe it was general maturation. Maybe Petit decided he didn’t want to stress his vocal chords like that. Regardless of the reason, his reinvention is more pleasing to the ear without losing any aggression or energy.
It seems like this will be a direction the band will continue to head in, if the album’s opener, “Old Crows,” is any indication. One could easily interpret the song’s chorus of “Now, we are not the kids we used to be/stop wishing for yesterday” as a simple message to their fans – this is how we sound now, get used to it.
I don’t mean to be too misleading, though. I’m not saying that AOF’s old sound has disappeared entirely. There are plenty of post-hardcore sounding tracks here. “Born and Raised” is a prog-metal/hardcore tear up, as is the whirlwind of a track that is “Heading for the Sun.” There are also rawer, slower, more emo tracks, like the building, powerful song “The Northern,” one of the most intense tracks on the record, despite its slowness.
But for every nod to their old sound on Old Crows/Young Cardinals, the band also bangs its head toward straightforward punk rock, and the result blows away the old sound. “Sons of Privilege” is a sweaty, soon-to-be circle pit classic that draws from Rise Against, Bad Religion and a host of other influential bands, but has a metallic spin that’s still distinctly AOF, and the revved up “Accept Crime” is a straightforward fist pumping punk anthem right down to the requisite “Hey!” in the chorus.
Over and over on Old Crows/Young Cardinals the band is reinventing themselves. They are still distinctly Alexisonfire, but it’s like the release of an AOF 2.0. In a sense, Alexisonfire is making an evolutionary regression from post-hardcore to hardcore, and it works so well that I hope all of the screamo bands out there take note. Hardcore worked really well, and it still works, so do you really need to do all that screaming?
Essential Tracks:
“Sons of Privilege”
“Accept Crime”
“The Northern"
Release date: June 23, 2009
