Album Review: Old Crows/Young Cardinals by Alexisonfire

Hardcore punk, post-hardcore, hardcore metal...it's getting increasingly difficult to identify what group belongs to which subgenre circa the early 21st century -- a case in point being the St. Catharines, Ontario-based quintet Alexisonfire. On their fourth full length overall, 2009's Old Crows/Young Cardinals, you get a bit of all three aforementioned styles, with a healthy dose of melody stirred into the sonic blender to boot.

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Review Summary: Without peaks and valleys, Old Crows/Young Cardinals is a wash of mid-paced, hook-laden and relatively solid post-post-hardcore. For all of the bickering that is sure to accompany Alexisonfire’s latest work, it’s important to note that very little has changed since the relatively well received, relatively well done Crisis. But as with many acts, nostalgia often sparks revisionism and it’s easy to forget Crisis exists when you’re still waiting for the second coming of Watch Out! (which, frankly, doesn't compare to their self-titled anyways).

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Gavin Haynes.

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On Old Crows, the first track from Alexisonfire's fourth album, George Pettit screams the chorus "We are not the kids we used to be." He's right, the screamo boys from St. Catharines have come a long way since 2001, when their Pulmonary Archery video pushed this genre into the mainstream, where the band has stayed comfortably ever since. [rssbreak] They used to go for the throat on every song, Pettit screaming his guts out and Dallas Green crooning the melody.

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