THE SPINNING ROOM
By Rob Browning

Alkaline Trio
Good Mourning
Vagrant Records
The Alkaline Trio have been a juggernaut in the last three or four years, racking up four or five releases and playing bigger and bigger shows. This record shipped 40,000 copies in the first week and debuted on the charts at 19, so I’m obviously not the only one who has been waiting for Good Mourning to hit the streets. The addition of Derek Grant on drums has made the band into the powerhouse they always had the potential to become. Grant’s a triple threat, singing and playing guitar as well as pounding the shit out of his kit. He actually was going to sing for the Misfits post-Chud. You really don’t need much more of a pedigree for this franchise. The Trio has never shied away from the dark imagery, but Danny’s marriage has left Matt to hold it down on the macabre front. It’s all here: blood, death, cannibalism. You’d think they were a emo Cannibal Corpse. This is the last record that Alkaline Trio owes to Vagrant and Matt’s gotten really chummy with Mike and Erin from Fat, so you can probably do the math as to where the boys will be next year. Good Mourning is solid enough that chances are it’ll still be selling strong.

The Mars Volta
Deloused In The Crematorium
Interscope Records
The Mars Volta are a pretty special band. Spawned from the ashes of At The Drive In, they released an EP that blew up pretty huge. Suddenly they were the Chili Peppers’ favorite band and Flea was playing on the record. Then they signed on to open 30 or so dates on the Chili Peppers tour. I can’t see the Peppers crowd getting them one bit, but a gig’s a gig and Deloused is an amazing record of Latin prog rock. Given the major label hipster company they keep and their Mexican pride, I see a real good chance of a Santana collabo soon. If you can get past the woefully pretentious song titles, you’ll quickly realize that this is very probably the album of 2003. Look for them to go all Radiohead very, very soon.