Alexisonfire battle it out with Moneen on the new 'Switcheroo' EP
There's a running tradition in the alternative world where two bands share a release and cover each other's songs. Rancid and Nofx, Hot Water Music and Alkaline Trio are a few of the bands to have done it with BYO records. This time it's Canada's Alexisonfire and Moneen.
I haven't heard very much from either band apart from the fact that I stood through an Alexisonfire set last March eagerly awaiting a headlining set from Rise Against. The same goes for Moneen, what I've heard I haven't been particularly keen on and haven't dared to venture any further. So reviewing a CD like the 'Switcheroo' EP will only lead my review to two possible conclusions;
1-all the tracks just blur into one long track and I quite dislike it
2-One band comes out on top form whilst the other sounds pretty bland.
Through their mutual friendships, the bands decided it would be interesting to 'steal' songs off each other then re-write them to make them their own. So after a couple of days learning the songs, re-writing them and re-re-writing, the bands managed to spend a couple of days recording the songs.
The 6-track split begins with Alexisonfire covering Moneen's 'Passing Out In America.' So this rather poppy ditty is unusually wrotten to such an extent that it leaves the song confused. One moment it has the Alexisonfire singer screaming over some jolly posi-pop chords then Dallas giving that swishy chorus feel he does in all his acoustic stuff. Moneen's cover of 'Accidents Are On Purpose' is a bit of a 'diamond in the rough'. The band seem more than comfortable with the song and have achieved a sound that is in no way awkward like Alexisonfire's two cover tracks.
To clench those fans that aren't happy with the cover songs, there is one un-released song from each band at the end of the EP. It's easy to see the bands individual styles from this point forward and understand how they were trying to cover the songs and even change their genres. I certainly think these last two songs are much the best part of the CD. I certainly recommend the bands keep to their own stuff since it's much more exciting and straightforward.