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Thrice - Horizons/East


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I’m still holding out hope…unfortunately, this is still not doing it for me.  Post hiatus Thrice has been a big challenge for me.  Lol.  I’m still here, but I’m barely hanging on.  Hoping album has more energy than the last two do as a whole and Dustin specifically ups the vocal range he keeps singing in.  The low crooning vocals don’t do it for me. He sounds like a tired old man with aching bones every time he moves to me.  This song is better than the first one…fingers crossed…been here since Artist…

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1 minute ago, Derek™ said:

Alchemy.

Honestly, I’m not sure where you expect them to go after alchemy except for Beggars. Four completely different EPs and they still managed to combine all four to make Beggars despite Beggars being all in the same tuning and on the fewest number of instruments. So would it be fair to say you’re seeking a Beggars part 2?

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8 minutes ago, Panties Hank said:

Honestly, I’m not sure where you expect them to go after alchemy except for Beggars. Four completely different EPs and they still managed to combine all four to make Beggars despite Beggars being all in the same tuning and on the fewest number of instruments. So would it be fair to say you’re seeking a Beggars part 2?

Perhaps, yeah.  I think there were a ton of cool ideas on Alchemy, especially by way of instrumentation on Water, as an example.  They could've gotten away with a Kid A record.  If they could just drop the stadium butt-rock sound from their last 2 albums, they'd be in pretty decent shape.

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Just now, Derek™ said:

Perhaps, yeah.  I think there were a ton of cool ideas on Alchemy, especially by way of instrumentation on Water, as an example.  They could've gotten away with a Kid A record.  If they could just drop the stadium butt-rock sound from their last 2 albums, they'd be in pretty decent shape.

I will admit that Alchemy is hands down my favorite. Always has been and probably always will be. And Beggars was an absolute surprise for me how they combined all of the elemental sounds, removed the experimentations and made an amazing follow up. I just don’t know if they can go back to that ever again. I think they completed their experiment and it enabled them to go where they have gone. Being an alchemy fan, I’m just happy that every album since has been distinctly different. I don’t feel like they’ve every put out the same album twice ever and that makes me super happy as a fan, even when I like something a little less

than other stuff.

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I wouldn't want them to repeat exactly what they did on any of their albums, but I felt like they were on a natural progression which kept getting better and better through Major/Minor. TBEITBN is their absolute worst, in my opinion. Palms was an improvement, but it was still pretty weak. Both post-hiatus albums felt like they suffered from Dustin's solo style and trying to find something that sounded cool with the kids. Somebody was watching too much Stranger Things when they wrote Only Us...

 

The singles so far feel like they could have followed Major/Minor, which is exciting. I thought they were at the top of their game then.

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49 minutes ago, Panties Hank said:

I will admit that Alchemy is hands down my favorite. Always has been and probably always will be. And Beggars was an absolute surprise for me how they combined all of the elemental sounds, removed the experimentations and made an amazing follow up. I just don’t know if they can go back to that ever again. I think they completed their experiment and it enabled them to go where they have gone. Being an alchemy fan, I’m just happy that every album since has been distinctly different. I don’t feel like they’ve every put out the same album twice ever and that makes me super happy as a fan, even when I like something a little less than other stuff.

Well spoken.  To clarify, Beggars was great and a natural progression from Alchemy, for sure.  But I also think Alchemy had so much going on that could've been taken into different avenues and explored deeper, if they had the time and energy.  But Beggars was plenty good and I even enjoyed M/M quite a bit, too.  That's about where the Thrice train ended for me.

 

I will say that these 2 new singles are more aligned with M/M like throwgncpr said.  They lean more in that direction than TBEITBN which counts for something.

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11 minutes ago, throwgncpr said:

I wouldn't want them to repeat exactly what they did on any of their albums, but I felt like they were on a natural progression which kept getting better and better through Major/Minor. TBEITBN is their absolute worst, in my opinion. Palms was an improvement, but it was still pretty weak. Both post-hiatus albums felt like they suffered from Dustin's solo style and trying to find something that sounded cool with the kids. Somebody was watching too much Stranger Things when they wrote Only Us...

 

The singles so far feel like they could have followed Major/Minor, which is exciting. I thought they were at the top of their game then.

I like this take just because it is such a departure from the all-too-common sentiment that M/M is somehow their worst album. Honestly, it’s not my favorite and a little too religious for me, however musically it had some amazing work on it and considering the context off all of the loss they were all experiencing, it felt right.

 

However, I will shamelessly admit that I like TBEITBN and Palms. I’m just excited at the prospect of getting another album that is once again totally different than everything else. The closest connected albums in their discography, in my pathetic little opinion, is Alchemy and Beggars and even those are miles apart. To me that is the ultimate appeal of Thrice. You NEVER get the same thing twice (so badly want to make a thrice pun there).

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I'm a huge thrice fan, mostly love their early disco up until alchemy, but after all these years I still don't understand the love for beggars, It was a plain dadrock record (their first) especially after all the cool experimentation on alchemy and vheissu. It was a very poor decision to make everything themselves. I was devastated at the time. Major/minor is a complete trash, they needed that break, while TBEITBN is somehow a very strong return album (long defeat for example is a top-tier thrice song), which is very hard thing to do, it's still dadrock though, but somehow works. and I hate black honey though, and how it's their most popular song. Palms was just superbad, not a memorable moment on it, deeper wells is way better than any song that made the record which is meh.

These 2 songs are promising but still hate that I feel the "dadrock radio" vibes  they can't seem to let go since Beggars, but yeah they are old, just like me, so I guess I have to live with that. I can still go apeshit for Silhoutte live though :)

 

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2 hours ago, xfactor675 said:

I'm a huge thrice fan, mostly love their early disco up until alchemy, but after all these years I still don't understand the love for beggars, It was a plain dadrock record (their first) especially after all the cool experimentation on alchemy and vheissu. It was a very poor decision to make everything themselves. I was devastated at the time. Major/minor is a complete trash, they needed that break, while TBEITBN is somehow a very strong return album (long defeat for example is a top-tier thrice song), which is very hard thing to do, it's still dadrock though, but somehow works. and I hate black honey though, and how it's their most popular song. Palms was just superbad, not a memorable moment on it, deeper wells is way better than any song that made the record which is meh.

These 2 songs are promising but still hate that I feel the "dadrock radio" vibes  they can't seem to let go since Beggars, but yeah they are old, just like me, so I guess I have to live with that. I can still go apeshit for Silhoutte live though :)

 

Beggars for me was excellent because it combined all of the elements of Alchemy together. Listen to the album again and listen for it.  Some examples of what I’m talking about.

 

All The World Is Mad: A combo of Fire and Air.

The Weight: Air with a touch of fire.

Circles: Water with a touch of air.

Doublespeak: Air with bits of Earth and a tiny tinge of Fire.

 

It goes on and on, but that, plus a lot of the interesting progressions and rhythms, is  where my love for that album comes from. I’ve never felt like Vheissu was some experimental album because it just felt like a natural darker and, a bit slowed down/more mature, progression from TAITA. I’ve never felt there was a connection between Vheissu and Alchemy, but I have always felt like Beggars was the band saying “Let’s do Alchemy, but in a single album format so we can transition out of this sonic era and back into albums again.”

 

I feel like the thrice fan base is extremely multifaceted, but has this one specific subset of fans who still want them to be a fast punk/post hardcore band. Which always seems crazy to me because out of their 23 year career they stopped being that about 6 years in and have been more the direction and offshoots of Alchemy for the last 14 years. It just makes me wonder what those specific fans are holding out for.

 

I also don’t understand the Dad Rock label either. It feels like another misplaced label like “post hardcore.” When I think Dad rock I think arena rock mixed with classic rock plus these indie bands like Wilco or the Nationals. Thrice doesn’t sonically hit those genres so I’m always confused. I feel like it has always been a shot just because they are dads who haven’t put out another punk album in the last 75% of their career and the fans who are still mad about it can’t let that go.

 

The fact is Thrice was absolutely those things that embody IOS/TAITA/Vheissu at a certain time in their lives, but they haven’t been those things for a loooong time and their experiences and lives have shaped them in a way where they won’t be going back.

 

I do want to throw in here at the end though that I hate Black Honey too.  The only time I can find any appreciation for that song is when I am playing it on vinyl at a louder volume and the bass kicks in on the second verse. That’s the only think I find enjoyment out of.

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17 hours ago, Panties Hank said:

Just curious, what are you hoping for? For instance, if you had to pick an album in their discography that this one was the natural of, which one would you pick?

Me personally, I’m not a fan of Dustin’s solo work because I’m not a fan of folk and indie music really at all.  So, I wish that he’d have kept that style of singing in his solo stuff, but once his solo stuff got really going, he incorporated it into his Thrice stuff.  And it just fells like they always now get stuck in mid tempo songs (probably where some hear the Dad rock).

 

As far as Alchemy and Beggars sounding so aligned, that’s actually most likely because the did both albums themselves.  Teppei did all of it, so they all have a very similar production quality, namely recorded in their home studio before they moved to Washington or whatever. 
 

I'm not mad they have gone a different direction than I wanted.  And obviously I’m a big fan of them, cuz I’m still here checking out their music, but like you said, it could be that it’s not for me anymore.  Which is a bummer.  Glad for everyone who loves it.  

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Throwing the dad rock label at anything Thrice did pre-hiatus is dumb. Even though I didn't care for their post-hiatus albums, I still wouldn't call it that. Then again, I'm not the guy who screams "play Deadbolt" at every show...

 

Alchemy is tied with M/M for my favorite. It's brilliant, and even though they were experimenting, it still felt cohesive. I agree that Beggars was a nice follow-up, but I don't think it was as strong. I may also be in the minority, but I really don't like Vhiessu as an album. It has some of my favorite Thrice songs, but some of my least favorite as well, and it has a really weird flow as an album. It almost would have worked better if they took an Alchemy approach and split it into 2 EPs.

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2 minutes ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

I don’t have much to contribute other than vheissu is my favorite but also mainly this is the internet, what’re you folks doing having a rational exchange of opinions?

It’s really hard to drag someone with a good taste of music. I mean, they’re a Thrice fan aren’t they? Obviously they have good taste. It’s nobody’s individual fault that Thrice’s discography is so diverse.

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This thread is highly amusing to me solely because I was taken aback at how much Thrice changed their sound from Illusion of Safety to Artist, only to initially be appalled at what happened to the band I loved the 1st time I listened to Vheissu.  😆

Obviously, times have changed, as have my tastes, and I've grown to circle back and love most of their catalogue.  But point being, if it wasn't a debate about their sound, then it wouldn't be a Thrice thread.  

 

My only real gripe is I wish their live shows were a more even reflection of their discography.

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15 minutes ago, hallowken78 said:

My only real gripe is I wish their live shows were a more even reflection of their discography.

The last time I saw Thrice was on their "Farewell Tour" in 2012. It was a pretty even mix across their discography, based on votes from fans, and a really great show. I haven't cared enough about the last couple albums to want to see them again, but maybe that will change with the new material.

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