Alexisonfire's Crisis turns 20 as post-hardcore bands trace their DNA to it

Alexisonfire's third studio album, Crisis, is hitting its 20th anniversary, and the musicians who grew up on it still describe it as a foundational post-hardcore record. Released in the summer of 2006 and inspired by the 1977 Great Lakes blizzard that hit Western New York and the Niagara Region, it debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian Albums Chart despite splitting its time between clean vocals and screaming.

Spiritbox guitarist Mike Stringer was 15 when it arrived. He had discovered the band at 12 after hearing "Pulmonary Archery" late at night on MuchMusic, and he began touring at 16. He credits the album's cold, layered production with teaching him about ambience and identity in songwriting. "To this day, I don't think there's another album that sounds like Crisis," he says.

The influence traveled far beyond Ontario. Stephen Christy of Glasgow's newshapes says an entire generation of post-hardcore bands, his own included, likely wouldn't exist without it, pointing to how a group from a small Southern Ontario scene broke through internationally. Bandmate Michael Hamilton calls Alexisonfire "the kings of countermelody," citing "Boiled Frogs" and the three-voice arrangement of "Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints."

WREX's George Donoghue took a local crew job at the band's 2018 Reading Festival reunion just to watch from the side of the stage. His takeaway is that the song itself can be the front person, with no single focal point required.

Bearings drummer Mike McKerracher argues Jordan Hastings' playing is underrated, praising the restraint and phrasing of "Mailbox Arson." He also credits the record with normalizing genre-blending in heavy music long before it became standard practice.