Alkaline Trio

Love or hate them, the Chicago-bred punk-rockers of Alkaline Trio keep on trucking. 2010’s This Addiction, the trio’s seventh studio album (and first on its own label, Heart & Skull) is not the return to Goddamnit that fans of the early Alkaline Trio crave, but it’s not going to scare off the remaining loyal Alka-heads, either. Matt Skiba and company continue on down the path of up-tempo punk, penning songs about death and drugs that remain curiously catchy. (“Dine, Dine My Darling” is about death and drugs and samples the main theme of “Ode To Joy.”) An album of fan favorites stripped down to their semi-acoustic essentials, Damnesia, came out earlier this year.

Updated 12/15/2011