Monday, July 1, 2013

Green Day's ¡Tré! (2012)

With ¡Tré! , we reach the conclusion of the trilogy, rather a journey that Green Day took us through. It started with the peppy but light-hearted ¡Uno! and progressed to a racing garage-rockish ¡Dos!¡Tré! oozes class.

Album Art - Tré Cool


This album is pretty simplistic, but sometimes simple is the way to go. Not much recording frills, just the vocals and the instruments. It has many catchy tracks but none that are outstanding. It almost feels as if they could have had a crescendo somewhere. ¡Tré! would have been a very different story then.

After ¡Dos! released and reports of Billie Joe Armstrong fighting substance abuse surfaced, Green Day had to cancel most of its upcoming tours and pre-poned the launch of ¡Tré! from January 2013 to December 2012. The good news is that Billie is all better now and the tours have resumed to humongous audiences!

Billie Joe Armstrong having the 'time of his life' in Russia


About the lyrical content, it follows the haphazard switching of contexts like ¡Uno! but never does it get boring. True this album might not win a Grammy (but then, when has something ever, when speaking of the Rock/Metal genre) , but it does make you sing along to its tunes because damn, they are catchy. I'll say it once again; musically, ¡Tré! is an out and out winner.

¡Tré! ------------  ********oo  [8/10]

The album kicks off with Brutal Love , a slow tempo track, somewhat like an intro to the album. Reminds me of Song Of The Century off 21st Century Breakdown. What an album that was! One might be skeptical of what's to come , but fear not.

Missing You has a catchy pre-chorus & chorus hook and is reminiscent of the feel that ¡Uno! brought in. It takes a lot to say "I'm Missing You", and meaning it, to someone and just hearing the words warms the heart. This song has a couple of good moments with a short bass solo and a upbeat drum fill.

8th Avenue Serenade is yet another feel-good track. Such music was last heard in Green Day's Dookie & Insomniac years, but we have all become to accustomed to the aggressive punk rock of American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown that we don't remember where Green Day actually comes from.



Drama Queen is an acoustic track with a folksy tune on the acoustic guitar, that is soon joined with a bass and reassuring drums. Though I find a few words inappropriate in the chorus, if that's what the band intended to do, gotta respect that!

X-Kid is the album's only single. It has the trademark Green Day sound and is a lot of fun to sing along to! The song structure is solid with each instrument playing its part to make it a stellar track. Billie says this song deals with a very close friend of his, who committed suicide. Facing the hardships of growing up is never easy and suicide affects not only the person himself, but all of his/her loved ones. Never ever give up, things always get better.



That being said, we reach the halfway point of this album. Sex,Drugs & Violence is a typical punk rock track. The beat is upbeat, the tempo peppy. This song is all about losing your way and regressing to the three things referred to in the title, for the wrong reasons. One of the top tracks on the album based on the 'listenability' factor.

Each song on ¡Tré! tells a short story and that's how I think this album should be thought of: a collection of short,abrupt stories. It is very easy to visualise the settings of these stories, sometimes with even the faces of characters clearly defined. An artist with an ear for music can easily create portraits for each song.

A Little Boy Named Train is similar to the previous track and X-Kid. The guitars are straightforward, so are the vocals. But music emanating from the heart always touches the right chord. And that's what this track is all about.

Amanda is a short song with guitars that are as heartening as receiving a hug from your mother as a wake up call. This album is very true, and straight from the heart, and given the right ambience and state of mind, will turn out to be an enjoyable listen.

Walk Away is next. One of my personal favourites from ¡Tré! . The bang with which the first chorus begins sets the tone for the rest of the song and makes you sway and sing along. The extravagant use of the crash cymbal greatly aids the song to become the one to look forward to.

I imagine ¡Tré! to be a perfect setting for a bunch of guys sharing a pizza late at night and basically, having loads of fun.

Dirty Rotten Bastards, again, has a very lovable tune, almost hillbilly-like. But the band doesn't leave out its punk rock additions (how can they!).The band says they wanted to make this track somewhat similar to the Jesus Of Suburbia epic off American Idiot. Needless to say, this song comprises of multiple parts too, with fast tempo bass solos from the inimitable Mike Dirnt , a breathtaking guitar solo and a top notch drum fill from the eccentric Tré Cool separating the chunks.


99 Revolutions begins very strongly with pounding drums and progresses to become a delightful song. The chorus is extremely catchy and in fact, Green Day has named its current tour as the '99 Revolutions tour'. Guess the band loves this song a lot, and so do I.And so will you.

The Forgotten brings us to the end of ¡Tré! , the longest album in the trilogy going by the number of songs. This song has also been used in the soundtrack of the movie, Twilight - Breaking Dawn Part 2. This track feels like an appropriate close for this album with a soothing drum-piano combo, beautifully complemented with Billie's unique voice, which pleads "Don't look away from the arms of love".

To sum it up, ¡Tré! is a fitting finale to the trilogy, marked with songs aplenty with soul and honesty. It leaves not much to be desired, even if fans feel otherwise. If the band decides it's ready to be released, then that's how it's meant to be. It has a lot of heart with simple tunes, which are catchy nonetheless.

Earning a well-deserved 8/10 , it lays to rest an ambitious and eventually successful Green Day dream and ensures closure. Kudos!

Next: Remembering the sounds of decades past in Daft Punk's Random Access Memories

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NEWS:

1. Green Day have also released a documentary, ¡Cuatro! , chronicling the making of ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tré! .It is rated an admirable 8.4/10 on IMDB and I'll be definitely checking it out sometime soon!

2. 2013 promises to be a year with power-packed releases from Limp Bizkit, KoЯn and Skillet.

=>Limp Bizkit, now with Cash Money Records, are currently in the final stages of creating their next album, Stampede Of The Disco Elephants (SOTDE), while reports suggest they also have The Unquestionable Truth Part 2 in the pipeline. They recently released a single off SOTDE titled 'Ready To Go' , the video of which is expected very soon. I love it, what about you?



=>KoЯn fans have gone crazy with happiness on hearing the news that the band has reunited with lead guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch for their next album expected this year. According to the crowd, the picture will become perfect if ex-drummer David Silveria rejoins the band. But that is unlikely to happen any time soon, if various news sources are to be believed, including Head himself.
Rightmost : Brian 'Head' Welch


=>Skillet released their latest album 'Rise' a few days ago and initial reviews are pretty positive. Excited to check it out soon and of course, provide you my take on it !