Review Summary: Damn close to perfect.
First things first, if Thrice were a guy, your mom, sister, grandma, daughter and slightly camp is-he-or-isn't-he cousin would have a gang bang with him. That's how good and consistent they are. Like a good lover never lets up and keeps changing position, they never stop varying their music and keep approaching it from different angles. From album to album they are ever changing, yet keep finding new ways to bone your family (or ears, if the metaphor doesn't work for you), and yet each album is great and it's unlikely you'll find a dud in the bunch. Deadbolt is the best song on here in my opinion, but the others are all still pretty much raging hard-on giving music too so i'll give you the lowdown on the majority of the songs.
The album kicks off with metallic, modernised yet throwback riffing but soon showcases the melodic component that makes Thrice really great, mixing well structured, metallic riffs with melodic lead lines and vocals in "Kill Me Quickly", and kicks off the album perfectly, and sets it up nicely. "A Subtle Dagger" is the next in line and the shortest song on the album, and still manages to make an impression with it's Megadeth-reminescent riff. "See you in the Shallows" kicks with it's catchy chorus and key change, and is probably one of the more memorable songs on the album (to be honest there isn't a song on this I don't like, though).
"Deadbolt" as previously stated is in my opinion the best song on here, as it contains everything that makes this album good - metallica riffing, insanely catchy vocal melodies, great guitar work, and it's own touch as a little piano interlude at the end, which I confess I often skip, but only because the rest of the album's so fecking captivating. "In Years to Come" has nice use of double bass and octaves, and lead line, and as with practically every song, great lyrics.
The main lyrical topic of this album seems to be of relationship and love, betrayal, trust, etc, but it's not whiney, or anything, in fact it seems to be a fairly honest approach, since imperfections of oneself seem to be admitted and several songs seem to be about railing a girl you know you shouldn't be railing. Which is totally wicked, since reading most bands these days lyrics you'd think they'd never had a blowjob from some chick they didn't really care about (come on, I refuse to believe Hawthorne Heights, as much as I don't care for them, haven't received fellatio offers from 17 year old chicks with low self esteem).
Back on topic of this album, "The Red Death" and "A Living Dance" both run out waving their erect erections to kick your ass, dropping the poppiness a little, which doesn't pick up again till the Thursday(ish)-esque "Trust". Trust is actually a great song, although if your listening to it now for the first time it may sound formulaic since plenty of bands have done a song that sounds like this since 2002. I'm not so presumptuous as to assume they ripped this song's format off, given it's not Thrice's best known song or anything, but it would definitely have sounded more original back when this came out than it would now. Still it's a fine song, with great snare work, melodic octave-based riffs and as usual Dustin manages to fit in awesome melodies and a nice ass scream.
The last three tracks are all smooth and awesome, for me in particular the unique riffage of the pop-punkish in areas "So Strange I Remember You" and the speedy "The Beltsville Crucible". The album literally kills the whole way through, I wouldn't consider any of the songs filler.
So to wrap things up, if you are in any way curious about this album, listen to it, it won't disappoint you, unless your a complete d!ck or something. It literally flows through the speakers like ice cream directly into your belly. It's everything good music needs to be - catchy, technically proficient, varied, heavy, tight, varied and just an all around awesome listen. Also, check out all their other sh!t.
