Irvine, California's own Thrice are back with their much anticipated, brand new studio album titled Major/Minor. The follow up to 2009's stellar Beggars finds the group reaching the pinnacle of their career on a superb and unheralded effort that is the best album they've ever made and is one of the best albums of the year so far.
The album opens up with the incredible and jarring first single, "Yellow Belly" a dark, gritty tune that immediately starts out with churning, emotional guitar riffs that grab a hold of you instantaneously and coupled that with the intense vocals of frontman Dustin Kensrue add to a thrilling and emotional track that builds up right until the very end with an amazing climax. "Promises" is an immediate throwback track that is reminiscent of material released on 2001's Identity Crisis and contains passionate, heartfelt lyrics and the intense guitar work of Teppei Teranshi adds to a spectacular track inside and out. "Blinded" is another splendid track that starts off with a groove laden guitar flow before settling into a steady drum infused pattern brought to you by drummer Riley Breckenridge who adds a distinct element to all of Thrice's songs that can't be duplicated by any other drummer out there in music today. "Call It In The Air" is a midtempo, quiet rocker that relies solely on finely tuned guitar riffs to get its message across, which is eloquently delivered by Dustin in a clear and concise manner. "Treading Paper" does exactly the same thing as well, but is much more solemn lyrically and adds a more emotionally gripping guitar riff set that builds up exponentially until the song's conclusion.
The disc's second half starts off with a bang on "Blur", a fast paced, no holds barred track that takes no prisoners with a cavalcade of guitar riffs, drums, excellent bass work from Eddie Breckenridge, and Dustin's amazing vocals once again delivering an outstanding performance that is something to behold. "Listen Through Me" is an amazing, gripping saga with an incredible melodic output that comes right out of the gate ready to captivate you on impact. The disc begins to reach its end with "Anthology" a breathtaking, full bodied track that best encapsulates Thrice's full ability as a band and how they conduct themselves both in the studio and on stage as well."Disarmed" closes out the album perfectly with an intense, real to life tune that best captures the emotional intensity of the album as a whole and how it has impacted the lives of its listeners during the span they've listened to the album. When I first discovered Thrice back in 2003 when they released The Artist In The Ambulance, their music immediately hit me like a ton of bricks with its emotional wall of sound that was especially evident on "Stare At The Sun", my favorite Thrice song of all time. I had the pleasure of meeting Dustin last December at The Middle East Downstairs in Cambridge when he was part of the Where's The Band Tour? which also featured Chris Conley from Saves The Day, Anthony Raneri from Bayside, and Matt Pryor from The Get Up Kids. When I met Dustin after the show, he autographed my copy of The Artist In The Ambulance and I was in immediate awe of his humble and genuine personality and I told him how much his music has inspired me and changed my life as well.
In retrospect, a spectacular and career defining effort from Thrice, who have reached the creative zenith of their professional lives on this masterpiece that is certainly an effort that will be talked about for some time to come. This is the only album review I've done where I haven't picked out one favorite song off the album. All of the songs on this disc are best listened to as a whole in succession one after another to fully grasp the emotional message that is present on this album if you listen closely. If you are going to buy one album all year, this is the one!
Album Score: 5/5
Track Listing:
- Yellow Belly
- Promises
- Blinded
- Cataracts
- Call It In The Air
- Treading Paper
- Blur
- Words In The Water
- Listen Through Me
- Anthology
- Disarmed
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