Reviews

Every once in a great while, a band comes along that defies our attempts to
pigeonhole them into any category. Thrice, a quartet hailing from Irvine, CA, is
one of those bands. The bands third release, The Artist in the Ambulance, finds
the band maturing. At first, long time fans may be disappointed by this newfound
maturity. But, I urge those long time fans to really give the CD a listen. Where
their 2002 release, Illusion of Safety, was certainly a great disc, critics
complained that the songs were somewhat disjointed and rambling. There is no
sign of that on Artist. These songs are definitely more coherent and yes, a bit
more mature. Guitarist Teppei Teranishi and Guitarist/Vocalist Dustin Kensrue
are to punk what Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield used to be to metal, and Artist
is Thrice’s Master of Puppets. Teranishi’s playing on this release is much more
restrained and tasteful than it has ever been, allowing the brothers Eddie and
Riley Breckinridge who make up the formidable rhythm section to shine like never
before. On top of that are Dustin’s lyrics, so profound and meaningful that you
have to shake your head and wonder how one not yet on this earth for twenty-five
years came up with this stuff. The disc opens with the blistering hardcore of
Cold Cash and Colder Hearts, a song which goes back and forth between punk and
melodic metal, with a beautiful string laden breakdown. Tracks two and three,
including the single All That’s Left may be the most commercial songs on the
record. But the disc really captures you starting with the sixth track Paper
Tigers. In fact, there may be no better stretch of music in the nearly
sixty-year history of Rock than tracks six through ten, especially the one
two punch of Tigers and Hoods on Peregrine, perhaps the discs two finest
moments. When I first listened to the CD, I was in my car on the way home from
purchasing it. I actually had to pull over into a Walmart parking lot about
halfway through Paper Tigers and could not force myself to continue my homeward
journey until the last notes of the title track had died away. If you are at all
a fan of any kind of hard rock, you should consider getting hold of this CD.
Thrice can currently be seen on the Vans Warped Tour performing on one of the
tours two main stages. I went to the Dallas show and was able to get up pretty
close to the stage, I consider myself blessed for this. I doubt that after this
CD breaks, I will ever be able to get that close again. (Guest reviewer: Jason
Bennett - mrjake@sbcglobal.net)