Hailing from St. Catharines, Ontario, this quartet is showing that melodic vocals mixed with heavy guitars can make for quality music, unlike Canadian rock staples that this writer wont mention (but their name starts with an “N” and ends with “Back”).

On their latest record, Crisis, Alexisonfire streamlines their sound and gives the band’s sonic pallete some color. Lead singer Dallas Green can yell with the best of them on tracks such as “We Are The Sound” and “We Are the End.” The band also goes for moody and eerie sounds on the track “You Burn First.” The decidedly strongest song on the album, “This Could be Anywhere in the World,” goes off in a couple different directions and will positively challenge the listener. The latter track won Green a nomination for a Juno Award (Canada’s version of the Grammys, handed out April 1st) for Producer of the Year.

The band is a major force in the Canadian rock scene, with Crisis gaining platinum status in Canada within two weeks of its release. The band is also a staple on MuchMusic and is one of the station’s most played group. But the trickle effect is taking place in America, where up and coming video music outlet Fuse picking up the video for "This Could be Anywhere in the World.”

The band is beginning a tour with political punk-rockers Anti-Flag on March 8^th, which will run through the end of April. Singer Green feels that it’s been satisfying to break in their home country and in parts of Europe, but the biggest challenge will be to break in America. For their sake, the tour with Anti-Flag could always be that break the band is looking for. And by listening to Crisis, it would be a well deserved breakout.

Alexisonfire will open for Anti-Flag when it comes to the Majestic Theatre in Detroit on Wednesday, March 14^th. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.