Alexisonfire: Otherness (2LP, 45 RPM) [DINE ALONE]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set cuts the album at 45 RPM across four sides for extra punch. Otherness was the St. Catharines band's first album in 13 years, peaked at No. 4 in Canada and won the JUNO Award for Rock Album of the Year in 2023.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Cut at 45 RPM

About the album

Bands who reunite usually play the hits and go home. Alexisonfire got back together in 2015, eased in with standalone singles like "Familiar Drugs" and "Season of the Flood," and then surprised everyone when a full album turned up online in early 2022, artwork and tracklist and all, before the band had said a word.

The record they made is bigger and more patient than the screamo days. "Sweet Dreams of Otherness" premiered first and gave the album its name, "Committed to the Con" opens in full force, and "Sans Soleil" and "Conditional Love" let Dallas Green's voice soar over slow-building guitars. George Pettit still roars on "Reverse the Curse," Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele and Jordan Hastings lock in hard, and Matt Kelly's pedal steel and slide guitar give "Blue Spade" and "World Stops Turning" an unexpected glow. The band produced it themselves, with Darren Magierowski and Jill Zimmermann engineering and Dave Cooley mastering.

It sounds like five people who used the time apart to grow rather than rust. Thirteen years between albums is a long wait, though in fairness some of us have taken longer to return a library book.

Also at Kops: more Alexisonfire on vinyl · browse CDN Pop / Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Dine Alone Records (cat# DAV322), the 2022 album.