Thursday – Common Existence, by Luke
Posted on February 17, 2009 at 8:00 am by Luke
After picking up a new label, post-hardcore veterans Thursday have decided to leave the radio-friendly post-rock from their 2007 release and record their most experimental release to date. “Common Existence” is definitely a trip back to their earlier post-hardcore/screamo days and forward again.
The album starts off with two persuasive tracks that have Thursday’s typical post-hardcore sound; a swelling tempo that toggles between a stern hardcore and ambient, shimmering guitars. Then we get to possibly two of the best tracks on the album in “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain” and “Friends in the Armed Forces”, experimental enough with their aggressive hooks and synth-rock along with meandering guitars positioned so beautifully at the end. The last half is where the record borders on falling apart with a slow synth tune that echoes his off key voice to places it shouldn’t go. Afterwards the tracks just kind of repeat themselves with ruthless hardcore and glistening guitar work all in a melodic, post- direction, which in turn makes the latter of “Common Existence” sound like a grouping of songs, rather than a flowing classic.
Geoff Rickly has his very distinct, slightly off key voice working in full effect on this record, only this time the vocals aren’t pushed forward like on 2007’s “City By the Lights Divided”. A good chunk of the vocals tend to be drowned by the rest of the instruments, especially when the band turns up their furiously messy hardcore– which of course is much better then a clean and polished extraction.
Thursday have always been turning heads with every album they produce, and this one surely goes down as their most experimental effort yet. I’m sure fans old and new will be pleased with at least the majority of “Common Existence”, and I’m also sure this New Jersey act will once again be setting the bar for post- bands in years to come.
Released February 17, 2009
Thursday at MySpace
Epitaph at MySpace
Buy this album at Amazon.com or Amazon.ca
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