Ranking the Alexisonfire discography
Instalment two of Alexisonfire’s brainchild, the Born and Raised Concert Series, took place in St. Catharines last weekend. I don’t think anyone could have predicted the band of scrappy teenagers who debuted in 2001 with a chaotic mishmash of catchy post-hardcore would go on to organize and headline their own LiveNation festival 20 years later. If you’ve followed them for most or all of that time, though, it makes sense.
The band’s story is a one-of-a-kind Canadian underground folk tale. They were still playing the DIY circuit when their video for “Pulmonary Archery” started in heavy rotation on MuchLoud. Success continued to build slowly through consistent, hard touring and unlikely opportunities presented by the Canadian music industry.
While these songs were the hardest shit my 17-year old ears had ever heard, a cursory listen through AOF’s discography in 2024 shows the band as a product of their environment both in underground music and the Canadian alternative rock landscape. As they mature, their music becomes more palatable but also more unique. It’s not every day a group of mathcore enthusiasts with Misfits tattoos get to play their last show at Copps Coliseum. I think Alexisonfire’s sonic trajectory is inspired just as much by the doors they unlocked as the bands they grew up with.
A cynic might accuse them of slowly selling their souls to Corus Entertainment. The more charitable reading accounts for just how much punk rock medicine they snuck everyone between syrupy gulps of clean sung Dallas Green choruses. Not every album follows up its first radio single with a dirgy slow burner featuring the guy from Planesmistakenforstars. Alexisonfire did that, and they did it well.
Here’s how their albums stack up for me:
6. Otherness - 2022
This exercise marks my first time hearing AOF’s reunion record. The album art didn’t sit right with me, and I avoided listening based on the fear of what corny bullshit might be wrapped in such an unappealing package. To be fair though, if I was unfamiliar with this band, the self-titled is the only album I’d pick up and turn over in a record store. Maybe Watch Out!, too. Either way, the art on Otherness sucks. I also saw the 50 minute runtime and braced myself for a punishing listen. It was better than expected. Alexisonfire is basically a heavy rock band at this point, a direction they’ve hinted at since Crisis. There are like two fast punk beats on this whole record. The rest is CFNY music with screaming, or material that City and Colour left on the cutting room floor. I’m not mad about it. This is probably what most of the band’s audience wants, considering the almost 15 year gap between albums. I think it does a good job showcasing a diverse set of influences. That said, I’ll probably never listen to this again.
5. Dogs Blood - 2010
I don’t usually include EPs in discography rankings but this four-song offering is a decent chunk of music, running over 20 minutes long. I didn’t understand what this was going for when it came out and haven’t revisited it since. Now I get the frame of reference. There’s a healthy dose of classic punk/UK82 on here, with the track “Black as Jet” coming as close to straight up hardcore as AOF ever gets. I also hear post-rock DNA floating around, especially on the instrumental closer. The whole idea of this project is that these four tracks didn’t fit on Old Crows/Young Cardinals. They’re structurally ambiguous and lean heavily into the weirder influences AOF were dabbling in at the time. It’s a good companion for OC/YC, but as a standalone piece, it doesn’t measure up to the band’s classic material. Slick production rarely works over d-beat. It’s worth noting that the song “Dog’s Blood” is still in the band’s live rotation.
4. Crisis - 2007
This was AOF’s “going for it” record, with more conventional songs, higher production value and big, soccer chant-style call and response choruses. The spit and polish paid off. “Boiled Frogs” and “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” achieved heavy rotation on Canadian rock radio at a time when that actually mattered. Crisis cemented the band’s legacy as the ultimate gateway, and it’s probably the reason they still fill big rooms today. As a front-to-back listen, though, it might be their least consistent effort. Four or five of these tracks are absolute classics and the rest are somewhat forgettable. This record doesn’t match the unbridled aggression of AOF’s earlier stuff and lacks the tasteful refinement of what comes after it. Some moments feel like straight up pandering. Yet for all the big room theatrics, “You Burn First” and “Crisis” are among the gnarliest sounding songs in the band’s discography. Whether or not that translates to quality is a separate discussion.
3, Old Crows/Young Cardinals - 2009
This album is the definition of a “grower” for me. I wasn’t stoked on its refined, stripped back approach when I was 18 years old bumping the self-titled on repeat in my parents’ car, but with time comes wisdom. OC/YC is basically a rock record built from punk parts, ergo a punk rock record. Niagara scene legend and Punknews editor Adam White once said this was the only AOF album he liked because it pulled from some of the 80’s stuff he grew up on. There’s not much harmonic guitar noodling or off-kilter chaos on here. Instead we get driving riffs and catchy choruses — a simple but effective method for writing great punk music. George Pettit is also back in the saddle as primary vocalist for much of this record after playing sidekick to Dallas Green for the two prior albums. I don’t want to speculate on inter-band politics, but it feels like Dallas’ preoccupation with City and Colour allowed George and Wade MacNeil to take the reins and lean into more timeless influences. Whatever the case, this record gets better and better with age.
2. Alexisonfire - 2001
It’s crazy how the first official release from a band of teenagers is a 40-minute LP that still holds up 20+ years later. AOF’s debut stands out in their catalog for many reasons. It’s the only record without Julius Buddy production, so it sounds rawer and more pissed off than almost all of what comes later. There’s some (unintentional?) metallic influence gleaned from the band’s immediate contemporaries. The songs meander and sprawl with a free-flowing structural approach that future projects reign in. The obtuse lyrics conjure high school poetry in the best way possible. There are basically two types of song on this record — uptempo anthems turned setlist classics and slow burners whose lyrics are carved into high school desks and scribbled across long-forgotten notebooks all over southern Ontario. This record isn’t without warts. Many of these tracks are overlong. There’s also a lack of stylistic cohesion that, while charming, detracts from the final product. Still, AOF’s debut matches anything their peers were doing at the time. They were kids inventing a new style of music. What’s better than that?
1. Watch Out! - 2004
The only thing better than kids inventing new music is slightly older kids improving the music they invented. AOF wrote and recorded this album under ideal conditions. Years of touring locked in their creative chemistry and complimentary playing abilities. A bit of prior success helped them access resources without applying too much industry pressure. The result was a career-defining record that changed the landscape of Canadian underground music and rewrote the rules on what was possible. Dine Alone Records, a label that produces and nurtures loads of homegrown punk talent, doesn’t exist without this album. Does Fucked Up win the Polaris Prize, get signed to Matador and become Vice Media darlings without Watch Out! kicking the door down? It’s possible, but less likely. Without rehashing what I wrote a few weeks ago, this record introduced the ever-expanding streak of alt-rock to AOF’s sound and allowed Dallas Green to blossom into a star. The songs are tight and catchy but retain the punk-fuelled aggression of the band’s first record. It’s a perfect post-hardcore release for its era. I might be biased because of how important this album is personally, but I also can’t see anyone taking umbrage with me crowning Watch Out! as Alexisonfire’s best.