Spring Break
Thrice Vheissu
Island Oct. 18, 2005
- Page 1 of 1
|
"We're more than carbon and chemicals." When Thrice begins their fourth album, Vheissu, the listener is told to expect much more on the way. While their album title references the Thomas Pynchon novel "V," Thrice's new sound comes from a multitude of genres you could never have guessed (jazz for one). Forget the speed-metal riffs. Forget the big choruses. Thrice's fans and label placed enormous pressure on them to follow up their earlier The Artist in the Ambulance. What they did, much to everyone's relief, was create their masterpiece.
"Image of the Invisible," the album's first single, kicks off the record and sets the tone for the songs to come. Thrice has always had a dark side to their music, but their pop choruses didn't do the band justice. This time, Thrice strives for more angular guitars, rather than fast solos and palm-muting verses. Their new songs are equally as big, but there is now more depth, thanks to their musical evolution.
In addition to the music, Thrice uses their always-impressive lyrics to weave a stirring tapestry around the songs. If one needs an example, "The Earth Will Shake" begins like an old prison dirge with lead singer Dustin Kensrue, usually accustomed to screaming lyrics, belting out the opening lines in a soulful, bluesy manner. Fans of Thrice may be surprised with the amount of piano on the album, which truly encompasses the overall change in Thrice's music; their newly-found maturity. Vheissu ends with "Red Sky," an epic and poignantly beautiful ballad. Once the music fades out, the listener is left floored by what has just transpired. Eleven songs, 50 minutes and one of the best albums of 2005.
Older fans may have a problem with Vheissu and Thrice's new direction, but if you want to hear that sound, go listen to The Illusion of Safety. Thrice has succeeded in making the most different, yet best album of their career to date: cohesive, emotive and all-around extremely powerful. "Red Sky" leaves us with the line, "We'll raise an empire from the bottom of the sea." Thrice has taken the next step as musicians by not just creating an album, but creating a revolution, and has done so in a manner that can be appreciated by any fan of rock and roll.
