Thrice – The Alchemy Index: Volumes 1 & 2: Fire & Water

I’ve never liked Thrice and I doubt I ever will. I’ve listened to all the hype and read all the praise but other than a select few songs, I could never truly appreciate the band. However, I still attempted to take an objective view on the band and have sat through their last few releases. So despite my prejudice against the band, their announcement of a four disc concept album intrigued me. I knew from the get go that I wouldn’t like it, but I still wanted to hear the band’s take on the four different styles. They had recorded four new EPs, each of which were based on the four elements of nature, to be released as The Alchemy Index. The collection was separated into two releases, each containing two EPs. October saw the release of the first two EPs – fire and water – and while I still don’t like it, I can appreciate the skill behind the release.

First and foremost, Thrice did successfully convey two drastically different elements on the two EPs. The first EP is the fire EP, six songs of extremely heavy rock. The fire EP is what you’ve come to expect from the band: slow and heavy guitar driven rock with Dustin Kensrue solid vocals seamlessly switching between singing and screaming. The twenty two minute EP is filled with dark imagery of fire, flames and the like. It does become a tad repetitive, but does work nonetheless. The one thing that Volume 1 does that really stands out compared to Thrice‘s older material is the amount of digital effects on the release. On top of the heavy distortion, songs like The Backdraft features more keyboard effects than before.

The Fire EP seems confident enough, but at the same time falls victim to the same thing that I’ve always hated about Thrice. There’s little variation between the songs and while it is technically sound, I can’t get into it. Volume 2: Water improves on that a bit. While still not being the most captivating, Water is impressive due to it’s sheer contrast to the fire EP. These six songs are much more experimental than Fire with even more keyboard effects and a slower, softer feel to it. Kensrue’s vocals do almost a complete 360 and are much calmer without the intensity that he has be known for. The songs literally flow through the speakers, it enables you to just close your eyes and escape into the music – something that I’ve never been able to do with Thrice before. And just as Volume 1 conveyed harsh images of flames, Volume 2 feels like you’re floating in an empty sea – particulary on Open Water and the six minute instrumental Night Diving (which does become somewhat tiresome after a while though). Kensrue’s lyrics also see a mark improvement compared to the first EP as he no longer becomes as repetitive by inventing more stories for the theme.

The Alchemy Index: Volumes 1 & 2: Fire & Water is a good release for fans of Thrice. I, however, still don’t like it. There’s definite musicianship found throughout the release and it is rather interesting to hear the deep contrast between the two EPs but if you’re not a fan of Thrice yet, this won’t change your mind. It didn’t change mine.