Alkaline Trio
Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs

The date you are looking for is January 26th! Yes, Alkaline Trio are dropping their tenth album Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs early in 2024 and this single has me foaming at the mouth for it.

The single ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’ is the title track and first taste of the album. If you’re looking for signature elements, I can confirm they’re present. The intro is a solid beat with prominent bass, which the guitar line skips across. The verses have lots of space and each chorus is full tilt, with this tiny pause when it hits the ‘end of the day’ line that just makes your ears prick up.

Without sounding trite, it’s the way that we get our information now through social media. There’s always been good and there’s always been horror, but it feels like the horror hits our doorsteps much quicker these days. It gives people the feeling that things are escalating horribly.

Matt Skiba

When a song bounces along in such a pleasing way, it’s easy to forget that Skiba is a master lyricist, drawing on personal experiences when he sculpts out the words. I touched on this in the meaning of ‘Time To Waste’. In this song, the descriptive ‘I got nightmares up and down my walls’ shows the craft is still present here.

There are more things … likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.

Seneca

The main takeaway from this song is that Alkaline Trio are back (come on, we were all worried about whether this was going to happen for a while there!). Not just back as in “oh, there they are”, back as in back at their best with a song that will slot straight into your personal best-of.

Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs Video

The video was written and directed by Ravi Dhar (American Muscle).

Watch Alkaline Trio – ‘Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs’.

Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs Lyrics

You showed up and I shot down
We lost touch and you left town
You said ‘I never ever want to see your motherfucking face again’
I went out and I got high
I blacked out and lost my mind
I said ‘I never ever want to feel that motherfucking way again’

No, no

I got nightmares up and down my walls
I got some things that I should say
Walk like a zombie up and down these halls
Sleep like the undead, like the undead
At the end of the day

Getting back to living life
Cut me some slack, I almost died
And I never ever want to see that motherfucking place again
I found true love and lost my way
I won’t lose hope, patiently waiting
I hope and pray I get to see your motherfucking face again

Yea-yeah, yeah, yeah

I got nightmares up and down my walls
I got some things that I should say
Walk like a zombie up and down these halls
Sleep like the undead, like the undead
At the end of the day

Living like lovers
Dying like dreams
Deep undercover
Killing machines
Dance like the devil
Rise from the grave
The day that I lost you
I went insane

I got nightmares up and down my walls
I got some things that I should say
Walk like a zombie up and down these halls
Sleep like the undead, like the undead
At the end of the day

Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs Track Listing

Here’s the track listing for the album, which comes out on 26th January 2024.

1. Hot for Preacher
2. Meet Me
3. Versions of You
4. Bad Time
5. Scars
6. Break
7. Shake with Me
8. Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
9. Hinterlude
10. Broken Down in a Time Machine
11. Teenage Heart

Written by Fenton on 3rd December 2023

Steve Fenton writes in our music, words, and culture categories. He was Editor in Chief for The Mag and covered live music for DV8 Magazine and Spill Magazine. He was often found in venues throughout the UK alongside ace-photographer, Mark Holloway. Steve is also a technical writer and programmer and writes gothic fiction. Steve studied Psychology at OSC, and Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-1978 at the University of Reading.

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