This is a .44 Caliber Love Letter Straight From My Heart

By Omar Tanamly (February 16, 2004)

Artist: Alexisonfire
Album: Alexisonfire (self-titled)
Review: 

In 2002, Ontario-based quintet Alexisonfire crafted and released their first and surprisingly concrete self-titled album. Pronounced Alexis-on-fire, the band blended thundering elements of hardcore and screamo, with at times unexpectedly beautiful melodies. Eleven tracks of volatile, intense, hard music make this album, with all misconceptions aside, quite a release. Like a sleeping giant, songs will explode and retreat throughout the intricate mix, blending the raw, intense vocal outbursts of lead singer George Logan and the softer, melodic singing of guitarists Dallas Green and Wade Preston. Piercing guitar riffs, slippery bass lines, and tough breakdowns make most songs on the album more than satisfactory. There is something very aerial about all the vocals as well, like they are consuming all the rest of the singers’ breath, which contrasts nicely with the boisterous, booming music.

Logan’s passionate lyrics, at times hard to understand and make out, compliment the music well. Along with Logan and twin guitarists Green and Preston, Alexisonfire contains drummer Jesse Ingelevics and bassist Chris Steele, who round the band up nicely. The songs propel you to learn their words and sing along, because just as there is a floating quality in them, they are well crafted and sung. Once again, the melodies of the background singers as well as the guitar riffs, combined with the natural, strictly hardcore elements, make for an electric album.

The CD begins with a two-minute instrumental on ".44 Caliber Love Letter" before breaking in to the harder, more intense rest of the song. It makes for a very appropriate entrance to the CD, where both sides of the band’s vocal realm are introduced with a bang. Other highlights include the introductory metal-riffage-based "Counterparts and Number Them," "A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Angeles, the shredding "Where No One Knows," and the final track "Pulmonary Archery." The lattermost song offers an intro slightly reminiscent of the beginning intro, and other parts on the CD, where the band’s softer CD can be embraced. The CD also comes with a video for "Pulmonary Archery."

A consistently durable, intense, blend of both the lighter and tougher aspects of screamo and hardcore, this self-titled CD is undeniably passionate and firm. However, after or in the midst of a good listen, it is a little too consistent. Excluding maybe two or three songs, many of them are difficult to distinguish among each other. The concept is admirable, but some of the songs are less than memorable. However, it makes for a pretty cool listen overall, so if you’re into bands like Beloved, Funeral for a Friend, Atreyu, Silverstein (their better half), and Hopesfall, or hardcore music in general, check out Alexisonfire.

Tracklisting:

1. .44 Caliber Love Letter.
2. Counterparts and Number Them.
3. Adelleda.
4. A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Angeles.
5. Polaroids of Polar Bears.
6. Waterwings (And Other Pool Side Fashion Faux Pas).
7. Where No One Knows.
8. The Kennedy Curse.
9. Jubella.
10. Little Girls Pointing and Laughing.
11. Pulmonary Archery.