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Hailing from Irvine California, new millennium post-hardcore mainstays Thrice, have created a catalog of music ranging from fast riff driven rock to melodic art rock, all without missing a beat. It’s that catalog that they put on display in their latest live double disc release. Recorded live in Anaheim at the House Of Blues, while on tour with Pelican and Circa Survive, Thrice rock their way through a set comprised mostly of songs off their latest release, the four EP set The Alchemy Index, while mixing in the older material that any Thrice fan will eat up .

Thrice, comprised of lead singer Dustin Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, and brothers Eddie, and Riley Breckenridge rounding out the rhythm section on bass and drums respectively formed in 1998 released their first album, Identity Crisis in 2001. Cirsis was pure energy and laid the foundation for their first real success with the release of 2002’s The Illusion of Safety, which found the band delivering a heavy dose of fast, hardcore riffs. Thrice refined this formula with great success on 2003’s The Artist In The Ambulance, which saw the band move to another level of musicianship, incorporating more intense guitars, and more complex time signatures. Thrice moved in a different direction with their next release 2005’s Vheissu, which saw the band incorporate a large variety of instruments including strings and piano. Teppei revealed in an interview previous to Vheissu’s release that this had been the first album which Thrice wrote mainly on the piano, leading to an obvious difference between the new songs and the bands older, guitar driven material. Thrice took their new style to the next level on their four EP release The Alchemy Index. Each EP in the set was based around one of the four elements, Earth, Fire, Wind and Water, and each had a unique style ranging from the acoustic style of Earth to the tech heavy Minus The Bear/No Knife style found on Water, represented by songs like Digital Sea and Open Water.

Thrice starts the set out with The Lion and the Wolf off of the Earth EP, and then continue with two more songs from the Alchemy Index with the harder Firebrether and The Messanger from Fire kicking it up a notch. They visit Vheissu for Dust and Nations before showing off their newer style with an incredible version of the Kid A-esque Digital Sea. The almost home town crowd add a great element to Digital Sea and the rest of the album. Thrice then comes back with Flags of Dawn, found only on the Red Sky EP released in 2006. A few more songs from the Alchemy Index are up next with the charging Burn The Fleet, the haunting Open Water, and then Thrice’s cover of 90’s DC post hardcore alum Frodus’ The Earth Isn’t Humming. The old hits come out then as Thrice reaches back to The Artist In The Ambulance for the title track, that has the entire audience singing every word along with Kensrue, and then reaching all the way back to Illusion of Safety to play the now classic Trust before turning up the energy one more time with Artists’ first track, Cold Cash and Colder Hearts to close out Disc One.

Disc two continues the pattern of newer tracks with Broken Lungs and The Whaler before once again going back to Artist for All That’s Left and Silhouette. The acoustic Come All You Weary is reminiscent of Kensrue’s solo efforts and showcases his gravelly but beautiful voice and incredible lyrical sensibility. Artists second single, as chosen by the label and not the band, Stare at the Sun whipped the crowd into a frenzy before breaking into the moving Daedalus, which is almost a sequel to one of Artist’s most impressive songs The Melting Point of Wax, as they both recount the story of Icarus. Wax from Icarus’s point of view and Daedalus from the point of view of his father who had to watch as his son fly’s too close to the sun and then plunges into the sea. Two more fast paced hardcore songs, Don’t Tell And We Won’t Ask and Hold Hope Fast lead into Vheissu’s melodic one-two punch of For Miles and the first encore song of the night Red Sky. As any encore should, Thrice thanks the fans with possibly their best song Deadbolt from Illusion and then end the show off with the chant along Image of the Invisible.

So what makes Live At The House Of Blues worth owning? First off, any true Thrice fan is going to want everything they release, and this is by far the highest production value of any live release they have in their catalogue. Where songs like For Miles and Red Sky already got the live treatment on the Red Sky EP, the newer material stands out as a showcase for those who thought that Thrice peaked with Artist and the older material show that they still rock harder and better than most bands who are still in their early stages. Thrice is a band who defined post-hardcore for a whole generation, and they continue to re-define themselves with each and every release. Live At The House Of Blues is an example of a live disc that works, and will please current fans, win back past fans and bring new Thrice lovers into the fold.

Aaron Long

Thrice – Live at the House of Blues – Come All You Weary

Thrice – Live at the House of Blues – The Artist in the Ambulance.mp3

Thrice – Live at the House of Blues – Digital Sea

Tags: concert, post-hardcore, Thrice