Thursday - Common Existence

For many years, Thursday have been living in the shadow of a scene that it partly built. The New Jersey sextet, without necessarily being cast-off, has all the same suffered along its carrier from a certain lack of consideration. A due recognition, whatever some say about it. Thursday is neither Quicksand, nor Far but the actual alternative rock and post-hardcore scene would be far less thriving without Full Collapse and War All The Time.
This month comes out Common Existence, the band's fifth album, that chose (under the imposition of their major contract's licking) Epitaph as their new home. The disappointed ones were so many when A City By The Light Divided came out in 2006 that this album was less expected. The very clean production, the melodic work, the ambiant parts and the lack of aggressiveness of the record made Thursday lose many of their long-time admirers. A split with the Japanese screamo/post-rock band Envy released last year however restored some's hope, surprising by the verve of its songs.

So what should we wait for from this new opus, produced as its predecessor by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, MGMT)? The first track, "Resuscitation Of A Dead Man", is, as it happens on every Thursday release, one of the most powerful of the record. It's also the first single but we are miles away from "Counting 5-4-3-2-1", way more easy-listening. The presence of Tim McIlrath (Rise Against) is hardly audible and for good reason: the furious riffs, the banging drums, far from many young bands' beatbox sound, and Geoff Rickly's vocal performance half-sung, half-screamed, sincere and desperate, are gut-wrenching. If the lyrics aren't really impressive contrary to some of the following tracks, the sound impression is so strong that we don't take much account of it.
The whole first part of the album stays in this urgency and this aggressiveness, with genuine noise blasts. "Last Call" sounds like classic Thursday, chaotic but interrupted by calm sequences to finish in an end of the world soundtrack as the band does it so well. "Friends In The Armed Forces", one of the best songs of the record, has a strong lyrical interest and deals, as its name suggests, with war. More precisely, the core of the subject is the not easy relationship of Geoff with a friend enrolled in the Iraq conflict, or how not to encourage the efforts of someone you support as a person. "Ultimately, the song is a wish for peace and wellbeing for my friends", explained the lyricist in an interview. Lyrically and musically, it's impressive. Geoff's voice rises above guitars, nervous and intrigate. This impression of distance in the vocals is always here, as if he was going away and coming back constantly. But if the singer yells more on this album, the screams are only scattered, sometimes too clean and not any part is howled like on Full Collapse. Anecdotally, "Friends In The Armed Forces" includes a vocal participation of Walter Schreifels, emblematic figure of the hardcore and post-hardcore history who formed a part of many classic bands, from Youth Of Today, Gorilla Biscuits or Quicksand to Rival Schools, and now an established producer.

The album's second part is below the first one and includes all the more experimental tracks. "Beyond The Visible Spectrum" starts with a catchy drum solo and a chord sample quickly absorbed by the guitars' fury. "Circuits Of Fever" is the airiest song and could have easily appeared on A City By The Light Divided, while "Subway Funeral" will make you think of the unreleased tracks from the live CD/DVD Kill The House Lights.
The two ballads of the record musically sound alike but yet have a very different impact. "Time's Arrow" is a trippy song to haunt spirits that gives pride of place to Andrew Everding's keyboard, where Geoff's voice resonates as if it was coming right out of a music box. "Love Has Led Us Astray", a cold and subtle ballad, is a much more interesting track given its role of superb forewarning to the burning song that closes the album.
This last track, "You Were The Cancer", is as powerful as the very first one and probably one of the most intense of the whole Thursday discography. The synth electrifies the atmosphere, Geoff's vocals carry us, insistent and frosty, soon joined by the drumroll indicating that the downpour is close. And indeed, guitars get in, booming, quickly leading to the chorus, impassioned and sharp. A little like on "Lovesong Writer", we can feel the sky becoming overcast before the storm arrives and it makes the tempest only better.
The album ends like it started, in urgency. A constant urgency that characterizes the band. But beyond the intensity of their post-hardcore hits and the perfection of their singer's vocal performances (with no doubt one of the best of the genre), Thursday test sounds, creating textures, sensations, including subtle danger signals before every chaos, taking the listener to the highest before dropping him to the ground in a rush.

Despite a small minus on the production level (we have the feeling that the sound could have been even more explosive, especially on post-break parts and on the volume of the vocals) and a slight weakening on the middle of the record, Common Existence is a solid and substantial album. Several listenings are necessary but we realize that the whole just sounds natural and progressive, without any calculations or dubious elements. The band keeps its identity managing to distance itself from its pale imitators. What separates the sextet from its descendants is this ability to evolve and explore new tones and new complexities.
Twelve years after its forming and (with one exception) still with the same line-up, Thursday keep going on their way in the middle of loneliness, chaos, war and disaster at a desperate but firm pace, alone, like isolated within the scene they largely contributed to create.

4/5

Recommanded if you like:
Thrice, Glassjaw, Alexisonfire
Check also:
Hot Cross, United Nations, Kidcrash

www.myspace.com/thursday
(Epitaph, 2009)