A Thousand Thoughts Decline Away...

Song of the day: October 1, 2011

Thrice - “Blinded” from Major/Minor

I’ve had this album for a couple weeks now and finally gave it a thorough listening earlier this week… and I gotta say, it’s actually pretty damn good.

Everyone knows I hated Beggars. Thrice stripped away all the dynamics and energy i so enjoyed on their previous albums in favor of a bluesy, groove oriented sound. And I admittedly can not stand the Blues because I find that style to be boring and stale. I’ve got a thing for music with layers, contrasts, and dynamics, all of which have to build toward some bigger point or atmosphere (which explains why I love Bon Iver and Explosions in the Sky so much), so stripping things down entirely is a no go for me. Well I guess Thrice decided to ramp up the energy quotient on Major/Minor and gave me songs that build up to a number of hard-hitting climaxes. I freaking love “Blinded”, “Words in the Water”, “Treading Paper” and “Call it in the Air”, and it’s weird to say I love a Thrice song again (last album, i only liked “In Exile” and even that just sounded like a holdover from the Earth EP). I’m also surprised at how this album sounds like its from the “grunge”/90s era (and I’ve never been a fan of grunge). But the riffage is pretty great on each track , Ed Breckenridge’s bass sounds heavier than ever, and wow, his brother Riley effin’ owns this album on the drums (he may now give the drummer of The National a run for his money as my favorite non-metal drummer).

Still though, this album has a big problem with corny lyrics. the Christian references are more blatant than ever and I never thought that would bug me (I do love Sufjan Stevens and he pulls this shit all the time), but the lack of subtlety is bad. And I guess everyone loves “Anthology” alot, but I only kinda like it. In theory, it’s cool that he is referencing a bunch of old Thrice songs (I especially dig the “Atlantic”, “The Whaler” and “Trust” call backs), but lumping them all together really shows that some of them are just really freaking stupid and were only cool cause we were reading Poe and E.E. Cummings in high school.

So ya, yay for enjoying Thrice again. Don’t know if I would pay to see them live, but I’m intrigued as to what their live show would be like again.*

/really late to the party since this album leaked like a month ago… but like I said, I kinda stopped listening to them since I was so bummed by Beggars and how boring their live show had become.

*actually, this is what their set list looks like now and its pretty good:

Yellow Belly
The Weight
Promises
All The World Is Mad
In Exile
Call It In The Air
Silhouette
Cold Cash and Colder Hearts
Treading Paper
Blur
The Whaler
Words In The Water
Cataracts
Firebreather
The Earth Will Shake
Anthology

Encore:
Phoenix Ignition
To Awake And Avenge The Dead.