Released: August 22, 2006
The cover of Crisis shows hands swollen by frostbite, an image pulled from the Blizzard of 1977 that buried parts of southern Ontario and western New York. It is an ugly, unmistakable picture of damage. The songs inside widen the frame: hometowns change, friendships fracture, working life wears people down, and relationships fall apart. So how did Alexisonfire turn that much personal and collective wreckage into something people could sing together?
Released August 22, 2006, Crisis was the St. Catharines band’s third studio album and its first full-length with drummer Jordan Hastings. George Pettit supplied the screams, Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil handled guitars and vocals, and Chris Steele played bass. Together with producer Julius Butty, they built an album around the friction between those competing voices and the common ground beneath them.
“Drunks, Lovers, Sinners, and Saints” gets there immediately. Thick guitar chords give way to climbing lead lines while Pettit, Green, and MacNeil crowd into the same arrangement. Pettit sounds exposed and furious. Green opens up the melody. MacNeil lands somewhere between them, his rougher delivery giving the song another human edge. The lyrics demand sincerity, but the arrangement makes that demand sound collective. Nobody gets the room to himself.
The approach sharpens on “This Could Be Anywhere in the World.” Green’s clean chorus stretches over clipped guitar figures and sudden shifts in dynamics, while Pettit continues to tear at the edges. The song came from Green’s discomfort with returning to a hometown that had changed around him. Its chorus takes that particular experience and makes it easy to recognize in your streets.
“Boiled Frogs” brings that frustration into the workplace. Hastings pushes the transitions with crisp snare hits, Steele keeps the low end grounded, and the guitars close around a chorus built for participation. Green’s melody provides the release. Pettit sounds disgusted that the situation has become ordinary. Everyday damage rarely starts with a spectacular collapse. Usually, somebody just keeps turning up the heat.
Some of that tension came from within the band. “Keep It on Wax” addresses the split with original drummer Jesse Ingelevics, with MacNeil’s rougher vocal giving the song a particularly personal sting. Immediately afterward, “To a Friend” moves into wider guitar lines and a more sympathetic vocal approach. Putting those songs beside each other captures the uncomfortable overlap between resentment, loyalty, and concern. Hastings keeps both grounded with firm accents and tightly controlled changes.
The title track takes that damage outside. Inspired by the same 1977 blizzard behind the album artwork, “Crisis” rushes through freezing temperatures, stranded people and a town coming undone. Pettit sounds panicked; Green answers with a melody that makes the whole situation sound mournful. The southern Ontario setting matters. These are recognizable roads and communities, suddenly made dangerous by something nobody can control.
“You Burn First” breaks the usual vocal pattern completely. Gared O’Donnell of Planes Mistaken for Stars takes the lead, doubling his voice with a lower octave over dragging guitars and a stiff, almost mechanical beat. His smoke-rough delivery gives the song its own identity while fitting naturally beside the anger and exhaustion running through the rest of the album.
Butty’s production provides everything enough space to register. Green’s vocals cut through the guitars without covering their grit. Pettit’s scream keeps its frayed texture. Steele and Hastings prevent the busier sections from collapsing into noise. Even “Rough Hands,” with its wounded singing, harsh replies, and final piano notes, makes room for heartbreak without polishing away the rough edges.
So how does Crisis turn so much damage into something communal? By giving fractured friendships, miserable jobs, unfamiliar hometowns, and a historic blizzard a shared musical language. Pettit screams, Green finds the melody, MacNeil adds the grit, and Steele and Hastings keep everything moving underneath. The problems do not disappear. They become songs a whole room can shout back.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
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