Instant Impressions: 'Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs' by Alkaline Trio

One of punk rock’s most iconic contributors, Alkaline Trio, has made their long-awaited studio return with their tenth full-length album, Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs, released January 26 via Rise Records. After the longest gap between albums in the band’s career, with this release coming five years after their 2018 masterwork Is This Thing Cursed?, the wait is now over and it truly couldn’t have come sooner. With the album’s title coming from a phrase that guitarist/vocalist Matt Skiba’s mother used to say to describe busy nights working in the emergency room, the name also describes the work and collaboration that went into making the record — with recording taking place at Studio 606 in Los Angeles, the band crafted all the songs from scratch together in one room, which hadn’t ever been done previously in their career. Also worth noting is this is the last Alkaline Trio album featuring longtime drummer Derek Grant, who left shortly after recording was completed.

The previously released singles “Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs,” “Bad Time,” “Versions of You,” and “Break” appeared to give a good impression of the album’s overall sound, from the perspectives of both composition and mixing — there’s some classic Trio structures while still offering something new, and the mix is much louder altogether than previous releases, already cementing its own sonic identity that sets it apart from the band’s previous releases. Now that the time has come to listen through the full album, feel free to listen along and follow my real-time track-by-track reactions below:

1. Hot For Preacher (3:46)

• Can’t help but be reminded of their 2020 E.P. opener “Minds Like Minefields” right off the bat
• Musically and lyrically, the chorus is what stands out the most to me and it’s without a doubt my favorite part of the entire song
• The guitar break towards the end before the final chorus was a nice touch too
• Thinking about their previous releases with Is This Thing Cursed? and E.P., this feels like a straightforward opening track (which is a good thing), and an interesting one to set the tone for the rest of the album

2. Meet Me (3:54)

• Classic Trio intro, love those guitars
• As someone who plays bass every now and then, I can already tell from the first verse that this is a song I’m going to want to learn
• The resonance/reverberation of the backing vocals in the chorus is a really nice touch

3. Versions of You (3:14)

• The guitar intro reminds me of something from Dan Andriano’s solo album Party Adjacent
• The further you get into the song, the better it gets — the bridge is one of the best parts, especially with the vocal back-and-forth between Andriano and Skiba
• Having heard this song quite a few times because of its release as a single, I can confirm this song has grown on me more with each listen

4. Bad Time (2:55)

• I have a really bad problem with constantly thinking of sonic parallels to older songs whenever a band I love releases new music, so maybe this is just me, but this would fit really well between their albums Agony & Irony and This Addiction
• Alkaline Trio are pros at juxtaposing dark lyrics and upbeat instrumentals, and this is just another great example — with the lyrics being based on real-life situations where Skiba and the band were in the crossfires of drive-by shootings, one wouldn’t guess the song’s about a scary and stressful situation like that if they just paid attention to the music

5. Scars (3:28)

• I’ll never understand how Dan Andriano’s able to sing over the bass lines he plays
• It’s interesting that the chorus is split up into two parts in a way — again, the vocal call-and-response with Andriano and Skiba is a great touch
• Another thing about the chorus segments is the meter shift between the two — at first, it feels like it picks up and then the meter switches to make it feel like it’s slowed down in the second half once Skiba’s vocals come in. I’m not sure of the intentionality of it, but when thinking about the lyrics and the themes of the song, there’s something really poetic about that kind of shift taking place

6. Break (3:24)

• Out of all the singles that were released before the album, this one was my favorite
• There’s something about the intro that makes me think of “Throw Me to the Lions” from Is This Thing Cursed?
• Love the horror similes in the first verse, as brief as they are
• Skiba described the album as being about “apocalypse culture” and how social media, the internet, and generally every way people receive news and information nowadays sensationalizes everything and stirs up fear in people much faster than easier than it should — this song sums up that feeling perfectly, from the pace of the instrumentals to the frantic nature of the lyrics

7. Shake With Me (3:59)

• There’s a part of me that can hear Dan Andriano singing lead on this song and thinking it’s fitting, but it works exceptionally well for Skiba’s voice too
• Love the ringing of the guitars in the chorus
• Nice to hear Andriano taking over on the post-chorus vocally
• I don’t see the band or the label making this a song a single over the next few months, but I definitely don’t think this one should be glossed over by fans either

8. Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (3:01)

• I can’t even begin to say how much I love this song — while “Break” is my favorite single, this one is up there too. It has that classic Trio vibe in every aspect imaginable, a chorus that’s impossible to get out of your head, and lyrics that only Alkaline Trio could write
• It’s insanely fitting that this was released as the first single and made as the album’s title track
• I tend to get exhausted and bored with songs that are released as singles before an album because of how overplayed they get, regardless of how much I love the band and the song, but I still have yet to get tired of this track

9. Hinterlude (1:05)

• We love instrumental transition tracks
• I always wonder what it’d be like if tracks like these had lyrics of their own or were fleshed out more into being full songs

10. Broken Down In a Time Machine (3:03)

• If “Hinterlude” was supposed to lead right into this, the juxtaposition is really interesting because the energy here is instantly much higher than on “Hinterlude”
• It’s not often that the strongest lyrics of a song are in the chorus, but that’s definitely the case with this song
• I can already tell this would make for a great live track
• Out of the Andriano-led tracks on this album, this one’s my favorite

11. Teenage Heart (4:04)

• The chord progression at the beginning alone gives off a good impression of a closing track — I don’t know how to explain it, but it just sounds like the right way to close off an album

  • Also love how the beginning of the vocal melody in the verse matches the switching of the chords

• Musically, the pace change in the chorus is nice to hear, along with the vocal tradeoff and Andriano taking over the second verse

• Lyrically, this might be the hardest-hitting song on the entire album because of how accurately it represents the general state of things right now — Alkaline Trio’s always done well with lyrics about personal introspection and general social commentary, but they really outdid themselves with this track

With each release, Alkaline Trio excels at exploring new territory while also retaining a sense of musical familiarity for their loyal listeners. With five years between albums, it’s hard to set expectations for the new release because the band had time to completely go through whatever musical reset they wanted to, but they managed to bring something fresh without going completely off the beaten path, which I’m sure is something that many longtime fans appreciate.

Conceptually, the “apocalypse culture” theme shines through from track to track, both musically and lyrically. Songs like “Hot For Preacher,” “Break,” and “Teenage Heart” in particular lyrically capture both the unfortunate current state of our society along with the frantic thoughts and feelings that the media and internet can perpetuate in today’s climate. I’ve seen some fans complain about the mixing of the singles because it sounds “muddy” as if the instruments and vocals are competing with each other in a way, and while I can understand that sentiment to a certain degree, I can’t help but feel that it was a smart artistic choice as it also serves the chaotic and apocalyptic nature of the album fairly well.

All in all, while it’s sonically darker than their previous full-length release, there’s still the same driving punkish energy that Alkaline Trio’s perfected over their career. Coming back from the longest recording gap of their career, I’d say the record was worth the wait. For fans wanting to hear these songs live, the “Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs” Tour will be hitting North America from February 22 - March 30, and the European leg will be from July 16 - August 12. For tour dates and tickets, click here.

As of now, my top 3 standout tracks from Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs are:

• Hot For Preacher
• Broken Down in a Time Machine
• Teenage Heart

If you listened along and also enjoyed the album, you can buy/stream Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs here.

To keep up with Alkaline Trio, click here.

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