Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs Alkaline Trio Artist

On their tenth studio album, 2024's {|Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs|}, Chicago's journeyman goth-punk outfit {|Alkaline Trio|} deliver a blistering, yet still emotionally tender evocation of apocalyptic angst. The album arrives six years after 2018's {|Is This Thing Cursed?|}, the longest gap in the group's career and one which found singer/guitarist {|Matt Skiba|} splitting his time as a member of {|blink-182|}. It also marks the trio's final go with drummer {|Derek Grant|} who, although he does play on the album, amicably parted ways with the group just after they finished recording. Produced by {|Cameron Webb|} ({|Bayside|}, {|Pennywise|}), {|Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs|} finds {|Skiba|} and bassist/vocalist {|Dan Andriano|} refocusing their energies, embracing the caustic power of their early work and balancing it with their knack for big, swooning '50s rock-esque choruses. The album also features some of the best guitar work of the band's career, full of the sawtooth riffs that conjure both basement punk show excitement and heavy metal stadium euphoria. The album's title is purportedly a phrase {|Skiba|}'s mom heard while working as an emergency room nurse on particularly rough nights. It also seems to encapsulate the mood of the album, one that feels informed by an increasingly fraught political and environmental landscape. Yet {|Alkaline Trio|} remain steadfast, and songs like Bad Time, Scars, and Broken Down in a Time Machine detail stories of people reaching for love as the world seemingly falls apart around them. It's a vibe they underline on the anthemic Meet Me in which {|Skiba|} croons, I just cannot seem to get my rotten head/Around this mess surrounding us and/As the sky is falling, I'll fall into your arms. That kind of desperation might seem overly dark or tragic in someone else's hands, but {|Alkaline Trio|} are transcendent. More than just a bright spot in their career, {|Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs|} is a beacon of romantic punk defiance. ~ Matt Collar