Search - Alkaline Trio, Hot Water Music :: Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music [Split CD]

Down The Middle

a3_a_me | Michigan | 02/20/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Queen of Pain" and "While You're Waiting" are two of the most unique original songs in Alkaline Trio's catalog; some of Matt Skiba's best songwriting yet. Powerful lines like, "...I'm not much of a jester but I'd test poison food for you..." and "...you told me once I made you smile/we both know damn well I didn't..." make "Queen Of Pain" my album favorite. The Trio's take on HWM's "Rooftops" is excellent...I have yet to hear the original, but I doubt it could be better. Hot Water Music's "Russian Roulette" is a song that starts out sounding all pukey and gross, but quickly builds into the perfect song to relax to. An entire star is lost to the cause of HWM's butchery of "Radio" one of my favorite Alk3 songs. I can understand adding a second guitar part, and MAYBE changing the original one, but SCREWING UP THE WORDS??? NO. Their cover of "Bleeder" was almost as equally disappionting. Altogether though, I love the record."

Ill try not to make any spelling mistakes this time

Brendoncore Annesley | Brisbane, Australia | 07/13/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After listening to this cd I discovered two facts. 1.Alkaline Trio + Hot Water Music equals a superb split release. 2.Alkaline Trio + Hot Water Music equals three pairs of emo glasses.....



This jade tree release features three tracks from AK3; two originals and a cover version of "Rooftops". The two originals (Queen Of Pain, While You're Waiting) are typical of the band. Featuring dark lyrics and catchy choruses.



While the songs are very good, two small points became an issue for me. First problem is the backing track of Skiba singing over his own voice. The Dan Adriano background vocals serve a big part of the Trio's music. His voice is not present throughout all of the three tracks. Another small detail i felt obliged to mention is the annoying clapping sequence in "While You're Waiting". While it's no big deal, it does tend to irritate me.



The cover of Rooftops is probably AK3's shining moment on this disc. Their rendition gives the song a more poppy feel, and provides a good listen.



It's now track four and Hot Water Music have taken over, with a track entitled "God Deciding", an original. This song puts the two vocalists to good use. The transitions are flawless. "Russian Roulette" follows. It's a good song with an acoustic intro and a catchy chorus. The HWM version of "Radio" is easily the best song of the lot, and one the best covers i have ever heard. Hot Water Music have a way of showing show much emotion through their music and it is displayed here. The disc closes with an acoustic version of "bleeder", which is coincidentally probably the worst on this split.



One thing that differs between the feel of the two bands songs is the production. Hot Water Music seem to have a rawer sound, which translates to a more emotional and intense listen. Alkaline Trio sound a lot more polished and poppy, and this suits their style of music.



This is one of those over before you know it releases. Which in a way is good, because that means i can keep going back and listening to it over and over again. Quite clearly these two bands are not the same, that's probably what this split set out to do; display the diversity between two bands who seemingly fit into the same genre and share the same label.



I like both of these bands, i like this split."

Good split by great bands

The Ricker | Oakland, CA. United States | 10/30/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"alakaline trio and hot water music team up to put out an awesome release. alkaline trio steal the show though "queen of pain" which is one of the best A3 songs ever plus you get "while your waiting" which gets fantastically disturbing towards the end. They do a good job on "rooftops" which is an awesome song by HWM. On the second half of the album HWM arent as good as heir counter parts but "god deciding" is awesome and so is their acoustic cover of "bleeder. Overall this is a great little album."