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It’s hard to believe that Thrice are the same band that made 2003’s angsty yet technical masterpiece, The Artist In The Ambulance. Once paragons of the early-2000s post-hardcore movement – a scene shared by Cave In, Hot Water Music and even early My Chemical Romance – the foursome have shed their skin and found their niche in timeless, evolutionary rock’n’roll. With Horizons/West, they give another platter of their now-signature sophistication while continuing to evolve.
Album 12 may be the sequel to 2021’s Horizons/East, but it arrives with an identity that’s all its own. Directly before entering the studio, the band played Artist… in full on tour, and that manifests in some of their heaviest songs to date. As much as Thrice are nowhere near re-embracing the thrash shred-a-thons and wiry vocals of yore, the likes of Gnash and Crooked Shadows deliver a dose of aggression unfelt for almost 20 years.
The reliable soul and poetry, however, persist through these 11 tracks. “They keep on telling me our stars are crossed, but I think you might be my albatross,” singer/guitarist Dustin Kensrue croons on Albatross, his voice having long since matured into one of the most graceful and distinct in all of alternative music. Elsewhere, The Dark Glow switches between acoustic laments and heavy metal chords, but the emotion of the piece makes all of it equally crushing.
With their discography now a dozen releases deep, and their maturation into earnest rockers long since complete, Thrice could have easily stood still, offering a couple of bangers for their live shows and little else. Instead, they continue to burst with new ideas and emotional warmth. Thrice aren’t the band they were two decades ago, nor are they the band they’ll be in another two decades’ time – and that’s what makes them so fucking excellent.
Horizons/West is out on Friday, October 3 via Epitaph.
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