Concept records are hard to take seriously in the age of iPods and mp3s because they have created a sort of musical ADD for the masses. Few can listen to an entire album start to finish anymore, so a concept record that requires such an attention span is a terrible idea, right? OK, well how about instead of a concept album, we have what Alchemyindex.com calls “a four-volume collection spread between two releases comprised of four EPs” released six months apart?
Thrice, known for their willingness to experiment with sound unlike most other (quasi) hardcore bands, has once again outdone itself. The four EPs correspond to the four elements. First up are the elements fire and water on The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II: Fire and Water. I will be honest, I was tempted to write a review of nothing but fire and water puns, but I did not think anyone would find it as amusing as I would, much less having it get printed. Certainly with song titles like “The Flame Deluge” and “Digital Sea,” it would not have been hard to do.
Moving on, the first disc is fire. As one might assume from basing music off of fire, this EP is a raging inferno of aggression. Disc-opener “Firebreather” starts the record off with expansively pounding guitars and drums before quickly sliding into a soft/loud dynamic and ends with a cathartic singalong at the end. Actually, the entire Fire EP, aside from “Burn the Fleet,” contains some of Thrice’s most aggressive material to date. Certainly, longtime fans might have been scared off by parts of Vheissu due to its stretch beyond the post-hardcore leanings of its predecessors. The Fire EP works hard to dispel any reservations said fans might have about this new release. The only real complaint here is that, despite having aggressive music, drummer Riley Breckenridge’s ADD-ridden playing style is nowhere to be found. Though it probably would not have fit in with the Fire disc, it’s still an element most Thrice fans would appreciate.
That said, the Water EP might well have the opposite effect. Fans of the “new” (read: subdued) Thrice featured on Vheissu (say, “Red Sky” and “Atlantic”) will most likely eat this up. There are literally no songs that link this disc to the “old” Thrice.
The entire EP is filled with gorgeous electronica-based, reverb-heavy ballads — if “ballads” is the right word. The best of these is the six-minute instrumental “Night Diving” with its floating guitar line, and it’s possibly the only song on this disc that uses live drums.
Water plays like the soundtrack to a dreamscape — something Thrice fans would have never thought possible from this band just two albums ago. The only real gripe here is that the last two tracks should trade places — the ending of “The Whaler” seems to be this disc’s version of the final minute of “Firebreather” and would have been an agreeable and satisfying way to end the album.
Since fans cannot jump to next spring and listen to the Air and Earth discs, it’s difficult to note whether or not Thrice’s experiment worked as a whole. But, it’s easy to say that, if those two are anything close in quality to Fire and Water then, come spring, these four EPs will be the best work the California quartet has ever done.
