Thursday is one of the more popular and successful bands among the modern hardcore/post-hardcore bands, especially in the US. 'Full Collapse' was the second full length release of the band after their "underground" LP 'Waiting', and the album that brought the band to the attention of the "average Joe".
Some general impressions:
One of the first things you notice about the bands music is the voice of singer Geoff Rickley. The singing voice is something many people have to get used to. Some even describe it as 'annoying'. But I think once you get used to it, it adds a good element of rememberence. His screaming voice is good as well. The overall musical work is good. The bass is especially on the verses pretty dominant. The bass lines are very interesting, and quite complex for the genre IMO, accompanied by solid drumming. The guitars go from distorted walls of sound to clean riffs that set accents on certain points in songs and underline a certain mood or feeling.
The topics of the lyrics are about relationship things (like on 'Paris in Flames'), but also about society issues ('Autobiography of a Nation' as example) without getting too political so to say. Though 12 songs are listed in the tracklisting, basically it's just ten, as the first and last song are only noises and compositions of sounds that function as intro and outro of the record. So the playtime of the 'real' songs is about 40 minutes.
Good and Bad:
The composition of the songs is good, and I can understand why many people say, this is about Thursdays best. 'Angry' and melancholic songs are side by side with more mellow and somewhat happy songs. Couples like that are 'I am the Killer' (with it's psychotic lyrics towards the end) and 'Standing on the Edge of Summer' or 'Autobiography of a Nation' and 'A hole in the world' for example. This is especially interesting on the first half of the album.
But the last two songs kinda ruin it for me. Overall, the album is a great listen, but 'Wind up' and 'How long is the night' are the weakest songs IMO. They just annoy me, and are a bad ending for the LP. Like I mentioned above, the singing can annoy if you're not used to it.
Apart from that, nothing bad comes to my mind right now. :)
Summary:
As much as some people despise Thursday because they had quite some airplay on MTV and Radio etc., this is still a good album. Apart from the last two songs, it's solid and fun to listen to. It's not too hard, and not too mellow. The musicianship is nice and the screams/singing is ok as well. Only the last two songs really spoil it, as I do not like them at all and they kinda ruin the end of the album for me.
With a better ending the album would be a 4/5 for me, but taking that into calculation, I'll give it a
Final rating: 3.5/5
Recommended songs:
Autobiography of a Nation, Cross out the Eyes, I am the Killer
