Thursday

Full Collapse (2001)

Aubin Paul

I think I can pinpoint the exact time when Victory Records stopped being just a hardcore label. I mean, sure, they had bands like Catch 22, and Electric Frankenstein, but people still called them the 'angry tattooed straight-edge guy label' until just recently.

Well, in case you haven't guessed, Victory's name and sound suddenly became a much bigger thing about the time they signed Grade. Suddenly the emo kids, the college kids, and even the pop-punk skatekids knew Victory. Well, Victory didn't want just want one breakthrough band, and they seem like they're really committed to signing good, unique sounding bands, not just Grade-clones.

Which of course brings us to Thursday. Some of the more risque among you might have picked up their great debut Waiting, which really hinted at something amazing, but wasn't there yet. Well, Full Collapse delivers on the promise of Waiting and then some.

How to describe Thursday? I hate describing the sound of a band, they're always much more than you can adequately describe with words. At the simplest, Thursday uses a mixture of post-punk and hardcore. And when I say post-punk, I mean, a la Deep Elm. They use some piano on some of the tracks. But don't let that put you off. There is some serious intensity here, great powerful riffs, and a singer who can actually sing, and scream.

There are a lot of stand out tracks on this disc, starting after the :36 second intro, "Understanding in a Car Crash" starts off soft, and slow, but explodes into, well, what pain probably sounds like. "A Hole in the World" has a Jawbreaker-esque riff, and sparing, but touching use of that piano I mentioned earlier. The band has really mastered the use of tempo and volume, as the vocalist will scream, while the instruments echo that sound, and suddenly, the song drops into a quiet bridge, with just the bass and piano playing.

A band like this evokes a lot of emotions in listeners, as they've really captured their feelings in both the lyrics and the music. None of the melodic parts seem forced, nor does the screaming. It's harsh, it's catchy, and just beautiful. Don't miss it.