Album Reviews
The Alchemy Index vol. I & 2 : Fire & Water
7.0
With every single album Thrice managed to surprise me in a good way. They went from the pounding metalcore of their debut to the downright spectacular mix of well, pretty much everything on “Vheissu”. Then vocalist Dustin Kensrue – after dropping a solo release filled with acoustic country tunes – came up with the idea to write four albums, each of which was to be dedicated to one of the four elements. Eventually, things boiled down to 4 EPs with 6 songs each. The first two of which are out now in one neat package.
Volume number 1 is dedicated to ‘fire’ and as soon as you pop in the disc the familiar sounds of Thrice’s guitar violence along with Kensrue’s powerful shouting burst out of the speakers in “Firebreather”. They keep that up throughout most of the next five songs, making this EP the most recognizable for all the Thrice fans out there.
The ‘Water’ EP is something else entirely with keyboards stealing a lot of the guitars’ thunder, creating soundscapes the likes of which we have never seen before from Thrice. String arrangements, beats and things that go bleep in the night are essential ingredients to this EP and with a song like “Night Diving” they even come pretty close to acts such as Isis.
For creating a certain atmosphere, these guys deserve all the credit I can give them but I was kinda left waiting for some standout songs. I mean, “Vheissu” was just one big highlight and that is what I’m severely lacking here. Maybe things will feel more complete once vol. 3 and 4 hit the streets next year… we’ll see!
Tom Dumarey
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
