ALKALINE TRIO

Damnesia

[Epitaph]

Alkaline Trio has spent 15 years channeling heartbreak and righteous indignation into gut-punching pop-punk songs with the aid of electricity. On its eighth album the group unplugs and offers stripped-down versions of its best-loved tunes, as well as two new ones and a Violent Femmes cover. As longtime fans might have guessed, the Chicago band doesn’t need speed or distortion to get its material across. Singer and main songwriter Matt Skiba shines in the acoustic setting, showcasing his evocative vocals and chainsaw-sharp wordplay. Set against quiet guitars, his horror-show imagery on “This Could Be Love” feels wonderfully overdramatic. The pianos on “The American Scream,” meanwhile, make the story of a soldier’s suicide all the more affecting. There’s even a rare happy song, “Olde English 800,” in which Skiba finds sunshine in a bottle of malt liquor. The Trio has been louder and faster in the past, but it’s never sounded better. —Kenneth Partridge