Thrice Are
: Dustin Kensrue (Vox, Rhytmn Guitar)
: Teppei Teranishi (Lead Guitar)
: Riley Breckenridge (Drums)
: Eddie Breckenridge (Bass)
Thrice formed in 1998 after meeting up as schoolfriends and through mutual friends. Since then they have released 3 albums - The hardcore punk inspired 'Identity Crisis,' the more intense 'The Illusion Of Safety' that pointed towards their metal influences and most recently the melodic yet heavy 'Artist In The Ambulance' (not including their first demo, 'First Impressions.') Thanks to their varied influences and unique lyrical ability (Dustin likes to quote C.S Lewis in his songs)its pretty hard to categorise Thrices sound, so yeah, if i call them Melodic Hardcore and you dont think to please dont hold that against me =) Plus Tthis is my 1st review, so tell me how it goes :)
This is Thrice's newest CD out to date, and its primarily made up of B-Sides, Acoustics and Live cuts, as well as coming with a 200+ min DVD of Thrice's ercent adventures over the years. I'm just going to look at the CD that comes with this set in this review (since my DVD player has bust :(( )
Track By Track:
1) Eclipse: This song was found on a variety of Artist In The Ambulance Imports, along with 'Motion Isn't Meaning.' Its not a bad song however, with an inncoent 3 note lead riff leading into some chunky rhytmn playing and screamy yells by Dustin. From the screamed verse comes a more melodic pre-chorus, leading into the singing chorus of
'For centuries we watched the sky
And burned to bridge the great divide'
In my opinion the higlight of this song is the outro, where Dustin sings powerfully as Teppei lays down a snazzy tapped riff over the top. This song reminds me of 'The Melting Point Of Wax' off TAITA, the lyrical style is pretty similar, with imagery of Apollo being blown out of the sky. Maybe its the lead by Teppei that bring back those memories too.
4/5
2) Motion Isn't Meaning: Yup, another B-Side off TAITA, pretty different overall when compared to Eclipse though. The intro starts staight off with some Drop C riffing, before both guitarist lay down some single note runs underneath Dustins Vocals. Teppeis then builds up to a nice high pitched run that builds an epic feel. The chorus is pretty simple, although soe of the lyrics sound forced ('Its Just Another Drug') plus they seem slightly straightforward when compared to many other Thrice songs ('You Tell Me That You Want To Stop The War') Screamy Outro.....Nice, I like Dustins Screams :)
3.5/5
3) Stare At The Sun (Acoustic)
Wow.....really good. Follows the same lyrical and melodic structure as the original, with some nice harmonies between Dustin and Teppei. As a studio song strings are present throughout most of the song, especially when the bridge comes in at the high elad rus by Teppei in the originl are replaced by the strings. Awesome... if You like acoustics
5/5
4) Cold Cash and Colder Hearts (Live At Apple Store)
Yeah this was originally a heavy song... kind off original to turn it into an acoustic.Teppie appears to lay down some short little classical licks in the background too, which are quite a nice touch. The only thing that doesnt appeal to me about this song is the sung outro, where the orignal used to feature Dustin screaming his arse off. Its good. Just not 5.5 good.
3.5/5
5) The Artist In The Ambulance (Live At The Apple Store)
The Title track of TAITA and recorded at the same set as CCACH, this song continues the acoustic run on this album. Kidas can be heard singing on this track, which is pretty cool. The same track structure as the original, with the anthemic palm muting parts adding tension keeps the song flowing. Teppei's original effecty lead part is present, but from what i can hear it is played by the bass, allowing a nice effect under the two acoustics.
4.5/5
6) Eleanor Rigby
Thrice covering the Beatles i hear you say..? Its pretty good, with Dustin restraining his screams to the final choruses. The overall effect of this song is nice, with palm muted rhytmns building into nice distorted sections, and the birdge using nice chord stabs beneath Teppei's usual widdlyness :) its good. The outro grew on me, first time around i thought it went on a bit long, but with the buildup of effects over octave chords the song kinda opened up to me. Whether its a flanger or what i dunno, but its cool.
4/5
7) Send Me An Angel
Im not really a fan of this song. It was originally a cover off the 'Punk Goes Pop' cd, and despite having some nice delayed leads and harmonics by Teppei. the real letdown on here is the lyrics. Fair does, its a cover, but they don't sound great on a Thrice track. But a duel lead line running up to a tasty solo kinda redeems the song in the end.
3/5
8) That Hideous Strength
Possibly the heaviest Thrice song I've hear. Its a nice juxtaposition coming after the poppiest. Busting straight in with Dustin screaming over chugged and detuned power chords this is pretty much a hardcore song (don't start critising here...its hard to categorise any Thrice song) The small 15 second singing part does lighten up the song in that respect, but then the screaming comes back. But nothing bad with that, it sounds awesome. Teppei even pulls out a tapping solo out of the bag, with Dustin screaming for a while over the top. It might take people a while to get sued to this, but its really good. (That hideous Strength is also the name of a piece by C.S Lewis, one of Dustins favourite fantasy authors)
4/5
9) So STrange I Remember You (Live)
Anyone who's heard 'The Illusion Of Safety,' IMO Thrices best release, will know this song. Its pretty different though, and from the moment Dustin says 'This is an old one we've taken some liberties with' over the top of an Organ (!) you can tell the difference. For the first half of the song the original lead guitar by Teppei is covered by an Organ, and it sounds ***ing awesome. When all the music cuts out and Dustin sings the 2nd verse tension bulds uo greatly, before bursting back in with the organ, clean rhytmn guitar and bass. The drums also come in strongly here as well. The bridge see Teppei swapping roles once again and taking the guitar, chugging away at the riffs, before the organ leads back into the breakdown. Teppei plays a longer version of this than in the original, building up the song greatly before the band come back in with the final outro, where Teppei plays his guitar solo at a slower poace than the original, but giving it an epic feel, espeically as Dustin sings his heart out. Wow. It'll take some of the hardcore Thrice fans a while to get used to this i expect, but it does sound really good after a few listens
5/5
Yeah, so this is a wide bunch of songs, but as a B-Side disk its pretty cool, offereing the listener a different view of Thrice. Some of the lyrics are pretty lacking, but the musical variety of the album brings it back forward, offereing the listener a journey from heavyness to acoustic, the back again. Not really for those new to Thrice, more of an album for the fans.
overall it gets 4/5, but new listeners should check out the metally 'Illusion of Safety' or the more melodic 'Artist in the Ambulance'
