"What came first, the music, or the misery?" –Nick Hornby

In the case of Alkaline Trio, it’s most certainly the latter. It has often been said that you can’t write a love song if you've never been in love. The same can be said of writing a song about being drunk, stoned and not quite out of love. From Here to Infirmary makes it clear that nobody knows this better than Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano, the Trio’s songwriters-at-large. The Chicago-based band's third full-length, their first for Vagrant, marks a big step forward in the evolution of one of the nation’s best young bands.

Produced by long-time associate Matt Allison, From Here to Infirmary is the record the Alkaline Trio has always promised and threatened to make. It blends their trademark jackhammer riffs, frantic rhythms and heart-on-the-sleeve lyrics with deft production and a heavy dose of humility, creating a sound that’s both heartfelt and horrifying. The album also finds the band’s obsession with skulls, cops and fire firmly intact —- further strengthening the argument that the Trio remain too dark to be emo and too harsh to be pop.

From Here to Infirmary comes charging out of the gate with one of the most devastating opening triads in recent memory. "Private Eye", "Mr. Chainsaw" and "Take Lots With Alcohol" all bristle with infectious energy, fire off intelligent lyrical observations and rest their heads on teetering rhythmic assaults, courtesy of Andriano and former Smoking Popes drummer Mike Felumlee. "Private Eye" also features one of the stealthy Chicago in-jokes of which the band is so fond -- but no matter where you’re from, a line like "New Years Eve was as boring as heaven, I watched flies fuck on Channel 11" is bound to stick (Channel 11, aka WTTW, is Chicago's main public television outlet. - Ed.).

And that’s only the beginning. Over Skiba’s skittering guitar and Felumlee’s fierce pounding, "Stupid Kid" tells a rueful tale of a boy trying to forget about love. The one-two punch of "Steamer Trunk" and "You’re Dead" hits like a bomb, sending pieces of heart-shaped shrapnel flying into your guts. Andriano gets his shots in with the darkly romantic "Another Innocent Girl" and "I’m Dying Tomorrow", which both feature strangling bass lines and walls of fuzzed-out guitar. The madly catchy "Armageddon" would be a top five radio hit in any sane world, while album closer "Crawl" finds the group utilizing piano for the first time, albeit minimally and to relatively creepy effect. There’s simply not a bad song in the bunch. As if they've realized that they've put in a very solid day's work, the band puts down their instruments and gets back to the business of finishing off that last bottle of whiskey.

Run, don’t walk to your nearest shop to grab a copy of From Here to Infirmary. Toss it on, pour yourself a half-dozen stiff ones and reminisce about all the ones -- good and bad -- who got away. For the sake of their music, I hope the Trio's misery continues.