Thrice
(Well, maybe we have the exact details as well as the order of what came first a little wrong, though there is something weird about not having Riley Breckenridge give you three well-written reasons for listening to this.)
But the point is that Thrice's seventh album is here, they're our cover stars this week for good reason, and they've shown that some bands keep getting better as they go.
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Hardcore fans need no prompting, of course, but what makes Major/Minor an often compelling listen is its sense of time and, for lack of a better word, gravitas. Not that it's a series of stern pronouncements, but like the best of those bands who started off as teenagers or young men and turned into adults–think Radiohead from “Creep” to King of Limbs, Against Me! from teenage anarchism to considered reflector on the past–the sense is Thrice have found a new balance even while reinterpreting longstanding inspirations. “And the world keeps moving on,” as Dustin Kensrue sings on “Blur,” as does the band.
And so it proves on almost every song, the sonic tensions of those long ago inspirations such as Dischord label releases and the impact of alt-rock as heavy metal for the nineties transformed into Thrice's own chunky-riffed anthems. It can be the dramatic break and stirring solo on “Promises,” the stately descending chords on “Treading Paper,” the moody unwinding of the album's longest track “Words in the Water,” the honestly moving wordless chorus of vocals that brings “Disarmed” and the album to a close. Even something as simple as the abbreviated solo on “Blinded,” a burst of frustration turned beautifully epic and then silenced, is demonstration enough to show that Thrice still have a strong, clear something to their name.
www.thrice.net is as always where to go to find out more.
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