Album Details

• Artist: Alexisonfire
• Album: Alexisonfire
• Label: Equal Vision
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: blackxdan on 2007-08-13

Media

In my personal opinion, this is the best album that Alexisonfire had put out.  This album was their debut with Equal Vision Records and it really made an impact.  The entire self-titled album just made a statement of who this band is, and what they came to do.  They came to rock.  Alexisonfire does a great job of blending in screaming with singing, which is common within bands now, but none of them do it quite as well as Alexisonfire.  A perfect example of this would be in the first song, .44 Caliber Lover Letter.  Coming towards the ending of the song, there is a sudden pause and then the vocalist saying:  'This is a .44 Caliber Love Letter straight from my heart' and then pounds back into the hard guitar.  A lot of the songs are a bit of the faster paced, but there are some with the slower side to them.  Not many of the tracks have a slower side, many of them can start of slow but will quickly change that theme.

A Dagger Through The Heart of St. Angeles starts with a great guitar opening, and then into screaming vocals. Not only is it one of the harder songs on the album, but it also shows the potential in the screaming.  You will notice there isn't much singing on this song, but when there is, it comes very close to turning into a scream.

Polaroid's of Polar Bears is an example of what I spoke of earlier.  A song that starts off slow for a minute or so, and then breaks out into a harder feel.  The vocals come in at the right time on this song, and everything just falls into place just like pieces on a puzzle.

But unfortunately, every band is able to have one flaw.  And the only problem that I found with this album, is that some of the songs can sound the same.  It's easy to get some of the songs confused when listening the first couple times through.  But other than the sound being the same for some of the tracks, I really cannot find anything wrong with that album.  But it's enough to drop this album down from 5 stars to 4.

The lyrics that make up Alexisonfire songs are beautiful poems, and they do a fantastic job of fitting in with the stylings of this band.  For a debut album, it's very suprising how well they have done.  This is an example of a good album that would be very hard to surpass in future attempts.  But I guess time will tell if Alexisonfire really has as much potential to be something great, or maybe I'm giving them too much credit.  I'll let you decide.

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2007-09-01 Symphony Said:

Worst album in the AIF discography. Nothing competes with Watch Out.
Rating: 4/10

Review:

on 2007-09-01 hstisgod Said:

I know you've got more reviewer chops than this XDan, just relax and write what comes naturally, not formatted. This is a terrific album, and call me a poser, but it was mising a strangelhold they needed when they released "Watch Out!". Aye, maadone, that was some album. The question is, after "Crisis" a let down in only their scenario -a terffic album in anyone else's- do they come back with fire, and execution, or a label fed producers script? Only time will tell, I'm thinking late 2008, early 2009. They will take their time either way it seems.
Rating: 8/10

Review:

on 2007-07-14 blackxdan Said:

oh man. this album is just... haha incredible. The first song blows up in your face forces you to rock your head. The screaming and backup vocals are so solid, but sometimes it sounds like something wasnt produced properly during songs. But that can easily be overlooked with listening to the whole album one time through. I love always coming back to this self-titled debut. It's one of the best CD's around, definitely in my top 10. If you want your jaw to drop and you love music that makes you nod your head and sing along, then pick up this CD, please. You'll never regret this great buy.
Rating: 8/10