So Thrice's Vol. III and IV of the Alchemy Index already came out?

[Angry Grimace]

Man, I actually completely missed that. Not that I'm gonna buy it, given that I and II were a waste of time. I'm all for musical expermentation, but these dudes barely sound like it's even the same guys anymore. How do you go from Illusion of Safety (fantastic punk album) to this dreck? Now it just sounds like a bunch of weird guys that spend too much time reading Robert Frost while smoking pot. It's not even a matter of "heavyness"; I liked Vhiessu, but the crap on I was uninspired, and the stuff on II sounded like the hard rock soundtrack to the full tour of the local Aquarium.

 

To be honest, I don't even have to buy the III and IV of the album to know what it will sound like Let me guess: Earth is all acoustic guitars and crap, and Air is light and airy with a lot of goofball twittering by Teppei?

[tsunamijesus]

nope

 

air is vheissu 2 and earth is really good

 

i hated I and II but III and IV are solid.

[duncan]

i loved it all. some of Earth and some of Air was boring, but for the most part, the Alchemy Index is great.

[Angry Grimace]

 

nope air is vheissu 2 and earth is really good i hated I and II but III and IV are solid.

 

I think the most disapointing thing is to hear the lack of energy in that record. Maybe I'll listen to it on their myspace and see, but jesus, was 1 and 2 disapointing. It's like they did music by numbers when you sat around thinking "what would fire and water music sound like?" I dunno. I guess it's just disapointing to see them not making the kind of music I liked them for. I'm not saying I have a right to them making what I want, it's just that I thought they really nailed a sound that no one else was doing all that well with their first four albums (yes I like Identity Crisis)

[tsunamijesus]

 

I think the most disapointing thing is to hear the lack of energy in that record. Maybe I'll listen to it on their myspace and see, but jesus, was 1 and 2 disapointing. It's like they did music by numbers when you sat around thinking "what would fire and water music sound like."

 

 

i actually completely agree. it was a complete waste besides maybe firebreather and the whaler. there were a couple good parts in there besides that but overall, it was very calculated and not very visceral, which is what i love about thrice. each song sounds like the perfect improvisation, at least thats how i hear it. like they're motioning to each other in the studio when they switch parts and {censored}. i know it's not but i think that's what makes a great album, which vheissu most definitely is

[JBecker]

I like all 4 discs, but III and IV had at least 2-3 filler tracks that were potentially awesome songs they decided to not expand.

 

Oh-- and Thrice has always sounded very deliberate to me. Firebreather was fine-- I don't really care that much for super heavy stuff and I don't find it super memorable, but it was fine. I think Water was genius though. Easily the best of the four discs.

[TomCTC]

I liked it. Sucks that you didn't.

 

[PurityS.L.G.]

IMO Earth is the only one that lacked any oomph. The rest is pretty damn enjoyable.

[tsunamijesus]

btw, i still almost came when my thrice tickets came in the mail. i'm still a super fanboy. i just wanted vheissu II more than i wanted what alchemy index was. i mean, even the b sides to vheissu were amazing. sorry if i came off as unappreciative of thrice, they just wanted something different from themselves than i wanted from them

[JBecker]

 

IMO Earth is the only one that lacked any oomph. The rest is pretty damn enjoyable.

 

 

But, Come All You Weary is probably the best song of the 24.

[JBecker]

 

btw, i still almost came when my thrice tickets came in the mail. i'm still a super fanboy. i just wanted vheissu II more than i wanted what alchemy index was. i mean, even the b sides to vheissu were amazing. sorry if i came off as unappreciative of thrice, they just wanted something different from themselves than i wanted from them

 

 

I've noticed the people who are the biggest fanbois are those who loved Vheissu like nothing else. While it's grown on me, I still think IOS and TAITA are both better.

[Angry Grimace]

 

I like all 4 discs, but III and IV had at least 2-3 filler tracks that were potentially awesome songs they decided to not expand. Oh-- and Thrice has always sounded very deliberate to me. Firebreather was fine-- I don't really care that much for super heavy stuff and I don't find it super memorable, but it was fine. I think Water was genius though. Easily the best of the four discs.

 

The super heavy stuff isn't what made that band; they just happened to make some extremely good stuff that was heavy. It's just that nothing on I or II or what I've listen to so far off of III or IV is even within range of "To Awake and Avenge the Dead," "Stare at the Sun" or "The Earth Will Shake." It's just...not. For lack of a better descriptor.

 

God, Illusion of Safety is SUCH a good album though. They really wouldn't have had to have made anything else to be {censored}ing ace in my mind. I can still listen to that record and think it sounds {censored}ing epic. I remember thinking that TAITA was better when it came out, but in retrospect I think that IOS is one of my favorite albums of the entire decade so far.

 

Any young punk that listened to a lot of hardcore punk as a teen should understand why I still think Identity Crisis is underrated.

[PurityS.L.G.]

But, Come All You Weary is probably the best song of the 24.

 

Indeed that is a killer song

[bennintexas]

Man, I actually completely missed that. Not that I'm gonna buy it, given that I and II were a waste of time. I'm all for musical expermentation, but these dudes barely sound like it's even the same guys anymore. How do you go from Illusion of Safety (fantastic punk album) to this dreck? Now it just sounds like a bunch of weird guys that spend too much time reading Robert Frost while smoking pot. It's not even a matter of "heavyness"; I liked Vhiessu, but the crap on I was uninspired, and the stuff on II sounded like the hard rock soundtrack to the full tour of the local Aquarium. To be honest, I don't even have to buy the III and IV of the album to know what it will sound like Let me guess: Earth is all acoustic guitars and crap, and Air is light and airy with a lot of goofball twittering by Teppei?

 

i know man, why cant people just stay the same for 8-10 years?!! its insane!!! why am i not listening to limp bizkit and creed like i was 8 years ago?!?

 

 

continue doing the same thing = "god, they just do the same thing over and over"

 

do something different = "god, i wish they would do what they used to do"

 

can't please everyone

 

edit: i do feel fire was kind of forced though. fwtw

[tsunamijesus]

 

I've noticed the people who are the biggest fanbois are those who loved Vheissu like nothing else. While it's grown on me, I still think IOS and TAITA are both better.

 

 

is that supposed to be an insult? cuz i think AITA and vheissu are both really amazing albums. the first few albums are great if you like that style but the guys who followed them from the beginning are the only people i've met who like them better. maybe im not mature enough to appreciate them but i really doubt it. i think it's one of those things, that you had to be there to appreciate it as much.

[Angry Grimace]

i know man, why cant people just stay the same for 8-10 years?!! its insane!!! why am i not listening to limp bizkit and creed like i was 8 years ago?!? continue doing the same thing = "god, they just do the same thing over and over" do something different = "god, i wish they would do what they used to do" can't please everyone edit: i do feel fire was kind of forced though. fwtw

It's not that it's different, it's that the songwriting simply isn't up to par with the last four. I don't really feel anything on fire or water were full realized Thrice songs. They sound like a weird Dustin side project that he thought up in his spare time. Vhiessu was a different album. AI I&II was simply just not all that good. I don't really know what to say. It's not like I'm saying "{censored} those guys." They're entitled to fart on tape if they want. I guess I just don't really "get" the direction they are going at this point.

[PurityS.L.G.]

God. Reading this thread just reminded me when I saw these guys for FREE at Biola University in SoCal back in 2000.

 

Man they have come a long way since then.

[JBecker]

 

is that supposed to be an insult? cuz i think AITA and vheissu are both really amazing albums. the first few albums are great if you like that style but the guys who followed them from the beginning are the only people i've met who like them better. maybe im not mature enough to appreciate them but i really doubt it. i think it's one of those things, that you had to be there to appreciate it as much.

 

Nope it's just an observation-- the people who seem most rabid (you got defensive on your own disappointment) tend to be those who really really loved Vheissu.

 

I've followed them from the beginning, I think IOS was amazing, TAITA was something completely different. Vheissu showed some maturity in terms of sonic sound, occasionally dropped the catchy aspect that they really just destroyed anyone else with while still being interesting to musicians. Alchemy Index is a concept and an experiment with recording technique and sonic space as much as it's about songs. I appreciate all of their discs for what they are and I think that my personal "greatest hits" would have songs pretty evenly spread against all of their material.

 

I'm just saying what I see... no insult meant. You know I'm cool with you TJ. How's the throwing arm?

[JBecker]

 

It's not that it's different, it's that the songwriting simply isn't up to par with the last four. I don't really feel anything on fire or water were full realized Thrice songs. They sound like a weird Dustin side project that he thought up in his spare time. Vhiessu was a different album. AI I&II was simply just not all that good. I don't really know what to say. It's not like I'm saying "{censored} those guys." They're entitled to fart on tape if they want. I guess I just don't really "get" the direction they are going at this point.

 

 

I actually think the "not fully realized" thing is far more apparent on Air and Earth. I think Water was pretty fully realized and pretty {censored}ing awesome but a very different thing for Thrice to explore.

[Sunn O)))]

All I know is that Daedalus is one of the best songs i've heard in a long time.

[JBecker]

All I know is that Daedalus is one of the best songs i've heard in a long time.

 

Daedalus? Really? I don't even think it's my favorite on that disc...

[Angry Grimace]

So I guess I'll give it a listen, but my hopes ain't all that high

[tsunamijesus]

 

I'm just saying what I see... no insult meant. You know I'm cool with you TJ. How's the throwing arm?

 

 

oh yeah man i know that's why i was kind of taken aback at what i first perceived as some kind of hostility. but the way you just explained it made it a lot more sense that i had gotten it before, and i'm cool with that. we're definitely cool, i was more reacting to the fact that i thought we might not be? haha. my arm is {censored}ed but it's all good, i'll probably be a ringer for some teams this summer. im so pissed about baseball right now though, my coach gave some bull{censored} wonderkid the pitcher of the year award even though he quit trying halfway through, only won 5 games, and never won any big games. he just got it because he had one game where he struck out 19 guys against a {censored} team that i struck out 4 guys in my one inning against them, so {censored} him. sorry, i'm just venting, cuz it's absolute bull{censored}. how's your school goin?

[JBecker]

 

oh yeah man i know that's why i was kind of taken aback at what i first perceived as some kind of hostility. but the way you just explained it made it a lot more sense that i had gotten it before, and i'm cool with that. we're definitely cool, i was more reacting to the fact that i thought we might not be? haha. my arm is {censored}ed but it's all good, i'll probably be a ringer for some teams this summer. im so pissed about baseball right now though, my coach gave some bull{censored} wonderkid the pitcher of the year award even though he quit trying halfway through, only won 5 games, and never won any big games. he just got it because he had one game where he struck out 19 guys against a {censored} team that i struck out 4 guys in my one inning against them, so {censored} him. sorry, i'm just venting, cuz it's absolute bull{censored}. how's your school goin?

 

Luckily done for the semester. Totally burnt out from it. Keep at it talent will shine through.

[Inertiatic_SKS]

i know man, why cant people just stay the same for 8-10 years?!! its insane!!! why am i not listening to limp bizkit and creed like i was 8 years ago?!? continue doing the same thing = "god, they just do the same thing over and over" do something different = "god, i wish they would do what they used to do" can't please everyone edit: i do feel fire was kind of forced though. fwtw

 

+1

 

Ironically enough, though, when I talked to Dustin after seeing them in April, he told me he felt like AITA was their most forced album. He went on to say that if they had been given the same amount of time that they were given to write Vheissu, AITA would have been a lot different and the change would have been a lot smoother from AITA to Vheissu.