Thrice are not easy listening. They never have been, and have never intended to be. They have always followed their own creative journey, writing music that is dark, fierce, complex and thought-provoking. That some of these songs have ended up having radio-worthy hooks and hummable melodies often feels like an unexpected twist more than a planned occurrence.
The most thought-out part of Thrice‘s arc as a band is their latest album, Horizons/West being a companion piece to their previous album, Horizons/East, but this feels at peace with the nature of the progressive, post-hardcore band. Like on that previous release, the songs here are lyrically mining dark philosophical depths while musically searching for balance between the abrasive and the serene. This battle feels both external and internal listening to the record, as the band explores different dynamic structures that sound like the band grasping to find a greater truth in the universe.
Frontman Dustin Kensrue has said as much about the new release:
“A lot of this record is about parsing reality. We’re constantly being influenced by algorithms, by fear, by our own social echo chambers. Horizons/West tries to pull the curtain back on some of that.“
Opening track “Blackout” sets the tone of the album: haunting, atmospheric, moody and spacious…yet with a glimmer of optimism attempting to breach the surface. “We’ll find it’s light inside each breath. Behind our eyes, beneath the west,” Kensrue sings, during the track’s calm before the thrilling, ending storm of “Black out the moon, black out the stars, black out the sun (and see what shines).” It’s sung like a manifesto, backed by caterwauling guitars and trembling percussion.
While the band is a rock act at its core, they show no fear of exploring electronic textures, melding these with the intricate rhythms and hard rock dirge of “Gnash.” Later on “Undertow”, Massive Attack-style trip-hop creates a sense of weary desperation (“Cold water, pull me under”) before a saving grace enters the picture (“Then, somehow I felt your hand”). No matter how long and dark the tunnel, Kensrue always manages to see the light at the end, and the band finds ways to musically echo this.
The most direct of these songs is probably also one of the most accessible and musically straight-forward: the driving punk tune “Holding On.” Fueled on fiery energy, Kensrue pleads to someone struggling “Just hold on, I know you’re tired. And you doubt that you’re quite sane. You’ve been longing for a moment just to breathe without the pain.” This is one of the few tracks that could have fit as easily on the classic The Artist and the Ambulance as it does here. That’s not saying there aren’t other songs here that have strong melodic moments. Second single “Albatross” is heavy with passion, with the kind of chorus that will appeal to any fan of the emo genre. But it also has the progressive rock instrumentation and earthy production that has characterized the band’s albums throughout the last decade.
Another stand-out is the pretty, synth-glazed “Distant Suns,” which could be the second song with “Sun” in the band’s catalog to get them alternative radio attention. The song comes after the heavier, angrier “The Dark Glow,” with its eerie guitars and spine-tingling vocal delivery, and the ragged rocker “Crooked Shadows”. The soft/loud juxtapositions within the songs also describe the album as a whole. The band wants to disrupt you and wake you up from complacent listening, and are fine going to extremes to get you there.
They do this perfectly on “Vesper Light”, with Kensrue taking his vocals to a delicate falsetto as he tears into religious hypocrisy (“They speak of sacred light for hours, then wrap themselves in gloom. They preach the beauty of the flowers, then curse them as they bloom”) before the rhythm section and guitars come wailing in for a raging chorus. Listening to this, I can’t help but feel this song would put a big grin on Kurt Cobain’s face if he were still around.
The only time on the record that the band seems to allow the listener to remain at peace is the meditative closer “Unitive/West”. Windy chimes ring out as hymnal vocals sweep us out into a dream state, making it the first Thrice song that could feel equally at home in a yoga session as in a punk club.
As someone who first became a Thrice fan with songs like “Ultra Blue” and “All That’s Left”, I can’t say I gravitate naturally to all of the band’s current experimental, craggier song stylings. I can deeply appreciate the advanced musicality and poetic lyricism at play in Horizons/West. And I would rather listen to a band challenging themselves and their listeners with music that sounds true to them, than a half-hearted attempt and writing a poppy-enough chorus to keep the less-invested listeners happy. And for all the old school fans that have remained on the Thrice train through their musical journey the last two decades, they will find a lot to love here. The album dares to reach for higher mental and emotional planes, and is a strong step forward in the band’s evolution.
Horizons/West is out on Epitaph Records this Friday. Listen to the pre-released songs here.
The Indy Review 
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