This may be from me being the youngest in the group, but I think I may have gotten into music later than the rest of you. As a result, instead of choosing groups that influenced others, I will be focusing on groups that have been influenced by your favorites. That being said, this week’s artist is Thrice. Every year I know 2 albums that I will be purchasing. They are the Warped Tour and Take Action Tour’s compilation albums. These albums compile 40 tracks by 40 different bands that participated in their respective tours. These albums have introduced me to many of my favorite bands today. Upon going through the 2003 Warped Tour album, I stumbled on Thrice’s ‘Under a Killing Moon.’ To put it lightly, this song just flat our rocked and really stood out to me. Then on the 2003 Take Action disc, I came across ‘Silhouette’ which was even better. I ran out and purchased their 3 albums that were out at that time. I really enjoyed how heavy this group was and how lead singer Dustin Kensrue is able to put so much emotion into his delivery of the vocals.The reason I chose Thrice is that each of their albums has a different sound and as a result, I felt that there was a slight chance that each of you may enjoy at least one of these albums. They start out with ‘Identity Crisis’ which is a pretty heavy punk rock album and their latest album ‘Beggars’ actually can almost be considered, dare I say, Indie. Each of their albums is a very good mix of the one before it and after it. There aren’t many thought provoking questions related to this group, but what I can say is that I like each of their albums at the same level. What typically happens is that I love the first or second album of a group and all subsequent albums tend to disappoint. I am curious if anyone else experiences this and I also wonder if it is the quality that is dropping or if the expectations are just too high and we get caught up comparing the albums.
The album list for this week is:
1) Identity Crisis (2001)
2) The Artist in the Ambulance (2003)
3) Vheissu (2005)
4) The Alchemy Index Vol 1&2 (2007)
5) Beggars (2009)
They have 3 other albums in case you are interested. ‘The Illusion of Safety’ (2002) has a track that I love called ‘Deadbolt’ which will appear on the next Rock Band. ‘If We Could Only See Us Now’ is a disc full of B-sides, an acoustic track of ‘Stare at the Sun’, and one of the better covers of ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ When downloading The Alchemy Index Vol 1&2, please note that this one album has two 6 track discs. They had 4 volumes to this Alchemy Index theme where the volumes and the tracks on the disc all focus on ‘Fire’, ‘Water’, ‘Earth’ and ‘Air.’
I have low expectations for you enjoyment of this week, so please feel free to rip Thrice apart if you deem necessary.
Quick comment, I don't think I'm going to hate Thrice as much as I thought I might. Haven't done enough listening yet to say more, but it reminds me of a time when I actually liked this kind of music. I'll be back.
ReplyDeleteWhen I found out Thomas chose Thrice as his band, I have to say that I assumed it was going to be a week of loud, screaming, music. Not only because that it is Thomas’s music of choice, but he led me to believe I was going to hate it. We went to the zoo Saturday, and decided to listen to Thrice on our way downtown.
ReplyDeleteThe first album “Identity Crisis” was pretty much what I imagined it would be. There was quite a bit of screaming, which I am not a fan of in most cases. There were also a few songs, which reminded me of the type of punk rock I would listen to in high school, such as the song “In your hands.” While this album was not as hard-core as Thomas led me to believe, it is probably the album I liked the least.
The next album “The artist in the Ambulance” was a more enjoyable experience for me. I remember the song “Staring at the sun” from hearing it on the radio back in the day. I actually used to really like that song, so it was kind of nice to have a flash back of that time in my life. To me, I think the bands’ sound became more distinct. The songs all flowed together well, and each track led well into the next.
The third album “Vheissu” is as Thomas said, “A good mix of the albums before it.” I seem to enjoy each album more as I go along. I particularly liked the song, “Like Moths to Flame.” I liked that the song kinds of starts out more mellow, but then gets very heavy at the end. If I am to be subjected to the yelling, I would rather it be near the end of the song. That way I don’t know what is about to hit me. Their sound continues to grow and evolve, which makes me more interested to see what the next album will be like.
The fourth album “The Alchemy Index Vol. 1 & 2,” was quite a surprise. I really liked the fact that they had two separate albums, which really went along with the elements they talk about, fire and water. I made the mistake of first listening to water, which I thought was SO different than anything they had put out before. I really enjoyed this album, it had a more futuristic sound and of course was more on the passive side. The song, “The Whaler” kind of reminded me of a Radiohead song in a way. All in all I really enjoyed that disc. Then I went onto “Fire” and came back to reality. It is definitely more like the typical Thrice sound. However, it is important to get across the fact that they are taking these two elements and interpreting them in their own way. Very smart idea on their part.
The fifth album “Beggars” was my favorite overall album. This is an album I would listen to again. I really like the direction they are taking as a group. Although I am sure Thrice fans who have been with them since the beginning, probably miss the more hardcore sounds from the first few albums. I am interested to know what Thomas thinks of the new direction they are taking as a group, and if he likes or dislikes it. When Thomas told me I should start with this album and work backwards I was not sure what he meant. I now see that if I had listened to this album first, I would probably have been disappointed more as I went along to the other albums. I am glad I started at their beginning and actually interested to see where they will go next.
I knew listening to Thrice would immediately get me nostalgic for my heyday at WLCA; along with Taking Back Sunday and Senses Fail, Thrice was in heavy rotation at 89.9. At the time, this pop-punk/hardcore was the order of the day, sort of like how 5 years earlier ska had made a comback and was dominating the college radio scene. I didn't mind this music at the time, mostly because I was listening to more straightforward hardcore like Poison the Well and Stretch Armstrong; I was attending Warped Tour every year and bands such as Thrice were starting to fill up most of the bill. Let's see how this goes.
ReplyDelete"Identity Crisis" seems to be Thrice experimenting with differnet sounds. At times I hear straight-up hardcore in songs like As The Ruin Falls; there are metal signatures all over the place especially in A Torch to End All Torches, and Ultra Blue is dripping with pop-punk. They seem to do all these things quite profeciently; while I wasn't blown away, I certainly was not dissapointed.
"The Artist and the Ambulence" immediatley hits me with fuller and thicker guitars that didn't appear anywhere on the previous album. I noticed the band had moved on to Island records at this point which explains their noticeabley cleanner production quality and their movement more towards the "middle" with their sound. Dustin Kensrue's singing is showcased more here; he's got an inviting voice but shows he can still switch gears to yelling quite well. I'm a sucker for double bass pedal, I rewound Paper Tigers at the breakdown a couple of times.
The use of violin in The Melting Point of Wax didn't seem out of place at all; they have a more realized sound on this album that completely gets away from pop-punk but is not whiny like some of their emo peers.
"Vheissu" plays out as a band trying to evolve musically and tackling the problem of abandonning a sound that has brought them a large fan base. The song lyrics are considerably more dour and the arrangements more atmospheric. It's almost as if the band is playing tug of war with itself; coming to terms with subjects like isolation and heartache, which is puncuated even more by Dustin's sporatic yells. They could have named this album "Growing Pains".
I'll give them credit, they are not predictable. I was expecting slower, and I got harder and faster. Listening to Arsonist, off of the "Fire" album, gave me the feeling of watching a band of vikings pillaging and burning down a village. I guess they figured instead of trying to cohesively blend all these different sounds, that they could just break it down to thematic elements and present their different styles in a more linnear fashion. It works amazingly. The harmonizing at the end of "The Whaler" was superb. "Volume 2, Water" was more along where I expected them to be at this point. These guys are good.
Dustin's inflections on the song The Weight reminded me of Maynard James Keenan; besides that, nothing really stood out on "Beggars". I felt this was another move back towards the "middle", but overall, Thrice suprised the hell out of me. They are capable of intelligent sweeping music that can span many genres. This was a great pick.
Sorry I haven't commented yet, I'm doing it today don't worry!
ReplyDeleteThe Alchemy Index Vol. I and II were the first two albums I listened to, thus my first post about not hating Thrice as much as I thought I would. I then went back and listened to the list in order.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I LOVE the idea for the Alchemy albums. It’s so neat – I’ve always found the elements an interesting concept, so I think it’s cool to hear what each “sounds like” according to the band. The first volume, which appears to revolve around fire, is obviously harder than the second, about water, but somehow more appealing to my tastes than the first two albums on the list. “Firebreather” stands out to me – the way it starts off is unique, and I like the singing in this song better than the screaming.
Going back to “Identity Crisis,” I agree that their sound is kind of all over the place in the beginning. I can hear rock, metal and pop punk in different places – sometimes even in the same song! I really liked the song “Phoenix Ignition,” which starts off with acoustic guitar and singing, then goes into the screaming, which, like Beth, I am not so much a fan of. Some of this album even sounds like a harder version of Blink 182 or Green Day at times.
“The Artist in the Ambulance” was more crisp than the album that preceded it, so I liked it a little more, but it’s still not my bag. With “Vheissu” I could see even more progression, but still none of the songs stuck out at me really. See, when bands like this scream their lyrics (different from scream/singing, which they are also doing, I'm talking when they aren’t really hitting notes of any sort and instead all the words are just being shouted as loud as the singer can shout them), I cannot see anything unique. Some of that type of singing could just as easily be one of those local bands, Tony’s even, that David and I saw at the Pageant recently (I apologize for you who weren’t there and have no idea what I'm saying, but I guess my point is monotony).
Boy was I happy to get back to “The Alchemy Index.” I mentioned fire before, but it must be noted that I really liked Vol. 2 more than anything I had heard up to this point. Beth is right about “The Whaler.” That’s my favorite track on this album, and probably of all of them. It doesn’t even sound like the same band! I’ll listen to this album again.
“Beggars” was another step in the right direction for the band, in my opinion. At least it’s more my type of music. Some of the tracks sounded a little Coldplay-ish (and even OneRepublic-ish at points – LOVE) to me, especially “Circles.” I liked the use of instruments you didn’t hear in the earlier albums and just how much more accessible these last two albums were.
In conclusion, the first couple of albums were not for me, but as the albums went on, I started to like the band more. In one respect, I can see why they’d have a pretty wide fanbase today, assuming the crowd they drew with the earlier stuff wasn’t exactly the same as the later stuff. However, I’m kind of wondering how hardcore fans of the first couple of albums reacted to “Beggars.” Do any of you guys know?
(Also, I apologize for my writing which also seems to be all over the place. Being a professional writer, one would think I'd be able to make my thoughts more clear, but opinion writing was never my thing - in that mode I write more like I think and not properly. But I digress...)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to start off by saying that I think that Thrice is pretty great. While in general this isn't exactly the type of music that I listen to, Thrice just has something that the majority of bands in the genre don't. The progression that the band has made in their sound over the course of the past decade is excellent, all the while still retaining the sort of hard edge that make them who they are. I actually enjoyed every stop in the bands career, and it's almost a bit hard for me to decide what I think the actual high/low points are in their sound, but I'll give it a shot.
ReplyDeleteStarting with the earliest album under review, "Identity Crisis".....this was easily their most conventionally metal-sounding album. The guitar riffage, the screaming vocals, the song titles such as "As the Ruin Falls", all of the signals of metal are there in full force. This is also their most generic-sounding record, as they'd yet to begin the experimentation that worked so well for them on later albums. This album definitely reminds me, as Justin said, of early 2000s WLCA, so I probably mostly enjoy it for nostalgic purposes. At the same time, though, these guys do the hardcore thing fairly well, and I remember thinking at the time that they definitely stood out among the crowd.
"The Artist in the Ambulance" is a similar sounding record, albeit quite a bit more melodic than it's predecessor. I owned this album at one point, before giving it to my brother (Thrice is one of his favorite bands), so I've heard this one quite a few times before. While the album as a whole may not be quite as good as a few of their later efforts, this one still has quite a few stand-out songs. "All That's Left" was the peak of early Thrice, as it still contains the heavy guitars, to go along with a more melodic chorus that slays. I definitely remember hearing "Stare At the Sun" quite a few times on the radio, and it definitely makes sense that this was the big single off of the album. It has the big, heartfelt emo-ish sounding chorus to go along with the huge guitars that were so popular at the time. Just when you thought the band was getting soft, though, they hit you with "Paper Tigers." This might be the heaviest song the band has ever written, with the double-bass drums in the awesome breakdown, and the vocal chord shredding throughout the song. This album was the apex of their hardcore days (and I loved it), as they would go on to do something almost completely different with the next few albums.
First off, the origin of the title of this album is great. I remembered having heard this word before, and then I read that it was taken from Thomas Pynchon's novel V., so it gets extra credit points from me for that. The album itself starts off with a song that could have come off of the previous album, almost as a way to let you know that you're still listening to the same band. After that, though, there are quite a few songs to let you know that things have changed. The band has added analog synths into the mix with great effect on songs like "Between the End and Where We Lie" and "Atlantic", instantly giving them a more interesting sound, in my opinion (if you don't know of my love of analog synth sounds, wait until I do a Boards of Canada week.) Other songs still sound like old-school Thrice, like "Hold Fast Hope". The real standout track on the album is "Like Moths To Flame", loud-quiet-loud structure, and the melodic piece in the middle section is excellent. In all, this is definitely a transition album for the band, while at the same time, once again remaining quite a strong effort overall.
ReplyDeleteThe next album(s) "The Alchemy Index" were probably my favorite of the bunch. For one, the ability the band had to create a sound directly based on the title of each song is incredible. The song "Firebreather" sounds just like you would expect it to, hard and heavy. The Fire section itself is MUCH harder than the Water section, just as it should be. The songs are all extremely atmospheric, and they've finally begun to get into some more difficult, and not-so-generic song structures. I much prefer the Water section, as parts of it are so peaceful, almost giving you the feeling of drifting out at sea. Every song on the Water section could compete for the greatest Thrice track, but for me the song "Night Diving" was the greatest of them all. For a minute, I felt like I was listening to the band Pelican (a melodic metal/post rock instrumental band), as it sounds exactly like something they would have written. I was then interested to discover that one of the bands that toured with Thrice for this album was none other than....Pelican. I'd be interested to know the types of music the band was listening to before they wrote this album, as it seems to have quite a few influences that hadn't been shown on any of their previous work. Needless to say, this is the album that I'll be returning to again the most.
The most recent album "Beggars" was pretty interesting itself. The band seems to have listened to a LOT of different styles of music before they wrote this album, as it mostly doesn't even sound like Thrice at all. Each song seems to be the band trying to pose as another band, whether it's Muse on the first track "All the World Is Mad", or as Laura said Coldplay or OneRepublic on "Circles". I applaud the band for trying to change the definition of what "Thrice" is as a band, but somehow I have a feeling that on their next album, they're going to return to the harder sound of their early days....just a prediction from me. Overall, this was probably my least favorite of the 5, but I also think that it might be the biggest 'grower' as well, so I'm kind of interested in giving it a few more chances in the future, to see if it does actually grow on me.
ReplyDeleteIn all, I really enjoyed listening to the first couple of albums that I hadn't heard in 6 years or so, and I enjoyed even more listening to "Vheissu" and "The Alchemy Index" for the first time. Good job Thomas and to everyone else for their first set of picks.....this has been a lot of fun, and hopefully it will continue to be for a long time.
One more thing - I like that Thrice shows they have decent taste in music with their cover of Eleanor Rigby. I wanted to mention it in my post but I forgot - I'm not a fan of their version so much as like David Cook's for example, but again I applaud their efforts. Also, I'm not sure why I didn't like the singing on the harder albums, I just realized I did like Slipknot back in high school (but I think that was more a phase than anything).
ReplyDeleteFor me, I think David's first paragraph sums up my opinion. I became a Thrice fan at The Artist in the Ambulance days, but the first two albums were more of my style. Some bands choose a different style and dive right in, leaving their fans wondering what the hell happened. I think with Thrice, they have managed to keep their original fan base while attracting in new fans with each new sound. I absolutely love the emotion that goes into the screaming, however, even with a slower tempo, the band still has the heavy elements mixed with a new dark sound. I feel the lyrics have become much more poetic and as several of you have said, the title of the Alchemy Indexes are spot on with the track itself. With each album, I love how they throw in a few tracks that remind everyone that they can still fuckin rock and that Dustin can scream with the best of them. I'll try my best Amazon impression, if you like Alchemy Index Volumes 1&2, you might also enjoy Alchemy Index Volumes 3&4. These elements are Earth and Air, which I feel are a little more difficult to express through song. Just as an FYI, my favorite track was Vheissu's 'Music Box'. Thank you for comments and I am quite please to learn that this wasn't torture.
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