Thursday – Common Existence

There are times when, as a reviewer, you need to take a step back and look at an album completely objectively. Ignore your own preconceived notions or personal opinions on the style and examine the music for its technical skill and power. That is what I must do for Thursday‘s fifth studio album (and first on Epitaph Records), Common Existence. To say that Thursday‘s music entices me, enthralls me or captivates me would be a lie. I’ve never been a huge fan of their post-hardcore sound or of the genre as a whole. However, it’s damn hard to ignore the technical skill and innovation found within the record – and for that, Thursday once again deserves high praise.

Thursday have always been known for pushing boundaries, unafraid to disobey conventional rules and structures to instead create a massive, chaotic and ambitious sounds that explodes through the speakers always accented by Geoff Rickly’s screams and howls. They were one of the few who originally brought forward the whole emo/screamo post-hardcore sound that has since spawned a generation of diluted copy-cats and while they never received as many accolades as some of their contemporaries, their influence is undeniable.

Now, on Common Existence, the band seems to be pushing the boundaries once again to great success. The record ebbs and flows with speed and intensity, constantly growing and building up with thunderous drum beats and computerized effects from Andrew Everding’s keyboard. Rickly no longer screams constantly but instead punctuates key moments with blood-curling screams and sings the rest in a more melodic and echoey fashion. His vocal reach is elaborate and they use it to their advantage. Despite still being positively rooted in the post-hardcore sound evolved from the likes of Refused, Common Existence comes with a very industrialized feel to it akin to Nine Inch Nails thanks to it’s chaotic structure and frantic tempo changes.

The record blows through the gate with Resuscitation of a Dead Man (featuring Tim McIlrath of Rise Against), a song that is angry, heavy and hard and attacks you from all sides; but then the record ends softly with You Were The Cancer. With the six minute opus, Thursday are able to deliver the same kind of emotion through a steady buildup and heavy distortion where as on Last Call they straddle the medium with bursts of chaos juxtaposed against a controlled buildup to great successs.

Will I pull this record out and play it over and over again? Definitely not because it’s just not my style. However, Thursday have delivered an album worthy of great praise and one that could become a staple in the post-hardcore scene. Even I have found some solace in a few of the tracks on the record and it’s clear that the freedom appointed to them by Epitaph helped them create the best album they could.