Alexisonfire

Old Crows/Young Cardinals

• Alexisonfire
• Dine Alone/Universal

"We are not the kids we used to be" is the comet-force chorus from Old Crows, the opening track from an album that marks, yes, a change for Alexisonfire, the Juno-winning troupe that has moved from larynx-shredding scream-rock to a more brooding, accessible approach. George Pettit does a more guttural thing than the out-and-out shrieking of previous albums, which makes co-vocalist Dallas Green's melodic worrying a less drastic counterpoint. Still, on the heavy-duty ornithology of Young Cardinals, it's Green's "Oh hear our songs, rain your innocence on me," to Pettit's "We stoke our fires with the bones of tyrants." On the follow-up to 2006's Crisis, causes of angst include the Land of the Free (why always the hate for America, the place where bands tour and sell records, and not evil North Korea?), global warming and, on the shouting pop-punk of Accept Crime, Catholicism. Nothing flighty here.