There won’t be many albums this year that get talked about more than Thursday‘s new record. Released on the back of a controversial move to Island Records, ‘War All The Time’ left fans with high expectations after the awesome ‘Full Collapse’. The move to a major left the obvious questions – would the band change their style, release the MTV hit or soften themselves up lyrically? Fans need not have worried, this new record is simply brilliant and sure to be one of the albums of the year.
The album’s title hints at the heavy nature of the lyrics and the theme of war, or world conflict at the least, is prevalent throughout. Artistically ‘War All The Time’ is majestic, an album that makes Radiohead’s ‘Ok Computer’ look positively normal by comparison. The artwork is beautiful, the detail graphic, matching Geoff Rickly’s poetic lyrics perfectly. There are hints of the war in Iraq, other songs talk about 9/11 – Thursday have as much to say now as they ever have.
‘For The Workforce, Drowning’ starts with guitars crashing and Geoff’s soaring vocals launching into a melodic, yet hard-hitting verse. Lyrically the description and attention to detail is amazing. I’m yet to read another review of this record – I actually avoided all the pre-publicity because I didn’t want to have my opening day listening spoiled – but the opening few lines hint at 9/11. “Falling from the top floor, your lungs fill like parachutes, the windows go rushing by, the people inside, they’re dressed for the funeral in black and white,” and this is the opening line of an album. Without analysing every single line (because it’s something you will feel compelled to do yourself) there is just so much to look into and figure out. I know comparisons in design have been made to Radiohead, but I haven’t read lyrics and wanted to discuss them in such depth as I do with ‘War All The Time’ since ‘OK Computer’.
‘Between Rupture and Rapture’ keeps things up-tempo, while the bass-led ‘Division Street’ is made with Geoff’s “this is serious” mantra-like refrain. The first single, ‘Signals Over the Air’, is possibly the most accessible song musically. The song structure is instantly Thursday, Geoff’s vocals crash and collide with the angular riffs and the breakdowns work fine. It’s certainly not the best track mind, which I suppose gives those people who get into teh band from the song a welcome surprise. The roar of “this is a war” erupts during ‘Marches and Maneuvers’, a song so blatantly about the horror of fighting ande the anti-war feeling that you could mistake Rickly for a modern day Wilfred Owen. And even though ‘Asleep In The Chapel’ is less intense musically, lines like “since we can’t compete with martyred saints, we’ll douse ourselves in gasolene and hang our bodies from the lampposts so that our shadows turn into bright lights” are harrowing and haunting. The cathartic closing riff with Geoff repeating “with open eyes falling asleep” is equally majestic.
‘This Song Brought To You By A Falling Bomb’ is stunning. A piano-led ballad, Geoff’s vocals are as fragile as Thom Yorke’s. The similarities between each band are apparent, not neccessarily in the sound of the music, more in the way each band portrays their message. ‘Steps Ascending’ is a sudden thud back to earth, while the album’s title track again rams home the link to 9/11 and world feeling in the years past. “War all the time in the shadow of the New York skyline…like the ashes of American flags,” this is a record that will have people discussing lyrical meanings like never before. The morbid ‘M Shepard’ continues the riffs, while closer ‘Tomorrow I’ll Be You’ builds and builds into a behemoth of a final song.
The simple fact is this is a stunning record, one which gives the listener something new every time they listen. In a genre struggling to cope with the number of generic acts that litter it, Thursday take things up a notch and push back the boundaries they created. The bar has been raised and bands will have to again raise their game to keep up. If you were surprised that Island took the band on in the first place, ‘War All The Time’ is an apt way to silence the critics. Thursday have not only come up with an album to delight fans, it’s an album that will delight critics too. It’s quite simply brilliant.
www.thursday.net
Paul