I can sense your excitement. You have been very patient, but you still reek of anticipation. Let me bring some content to your life. There’s no need to wait any longer, for it has arrived.
It’s raw. It’s revolutionary. It’s “War All The Time,” the anxiously awaited new release by the Jersey rockers Thursday. This essential recording is an indie/hardcore hybrid of pure goodness, infused with a dominating, consistent catharsis.
“War All The Time” is an abrasive and deeply personal diary of dysfunctional relationships, challenged worldviews and introspective self-discoveries. Listening to this album is like drowning in the sweetest sea of euphoria. It is a crucible in the post-punk genre for its pioneering sound that is unparalleled by any others out right now.
The first single, “Signals over the Air,” is a disparate landscape of heavy guitars and dismal hearts. The energy surging from this track will diffuse in your mind as you failingly try to understand this newfound osmotic bliss. “Signals” is a powerful rock rumination that is just shy of the metal vein, but still thick with sound and wholly impressive.
The one song on the album that will leave you helpless with an overwhelming flood of emotions is “M. Shepard,” a darkly real tragedy about vocalist Geoff Rickley’s friend Matthew Shepard, murdered because he was gay. In “M. Shepard,” listeners are compassionately reminded not to be afraid of who they are, regardless of sexual preferences, and that “you don’t have to be alone.”
This optimistic message is hostilely juxtaposed against the mournful gloom of haunting memories. The song paints a funereal picture of “black cars with windows rolled up” that “join in the procession of emptiness” and murderers in the aisles of the church. A deep exhale interrupting the middle of the song (as if the sepulchral experience is being purged) is followed by an interlude of despairing cathedral melodies. This cheerless masterpiece ends dramatically with a raging scream that affirms, “We’re on our own / but we’re not going to run.”
Another track that stands out for its gentle façade masking a bleak undertone is “This Song Brought To You By A Falling Bomb.” Just over two minutes in length, “This Song” is a sweet and lifeless melody complimented by delicate piano accompaniment. The track is another success in displaying Thursday’s tremendous versatility.
Additional bonuses on the album are guest performances by Jonah from One Line Drawing (previously from the band Far) and Gretta Cohn from Cursive.
“War All The Time” is a brilliant album in which the band masters a style that is unequivocally its own.
In a recent interview for www.mtv.com, Rickley explained the meaning behind the album title. “There’s a war that you live every day when you have this type of interaction with people. You have this friction and these different human interests going on, and things tend to explode sometimes. Plus, I think a title like “War All the Time” for a record about love seems to demonstrate what our band is about — that balance between violence and grace.”
If you missed Thursday at Club Raven this summer, you can validate yourselves by checking them out at the Rave this Sunday. And if you’re one of the many fans who have been waiting excitedly for the release of “War All The Time,” then it is quite likely that you already have the album.
That is, of course, unless you didn’t reserve a copy or pick up a copy Tuesday morning. Otherwise, you probably already discovered that you will have to keep waiting until the local record chains get more in. But believe me — it’s well worth the wait.
Grade: A
