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It has been almost three years since Thursday released their fourth full length album ‘A City by the Light Divided’. In that time a CD/DVD was released with b-sides and unreleased material as well as a split album with the hardcore Japanese group Envy. Common Existence marks the first full length album since 2006 and it had much anticipation from fans and reviewers alike. Unfortunately this is not the same Thursday from ‘Waiting’ or ‘Full Collapse’. It is more harmoniously controlled anger subdued and melodiously equal. That’s not Thursday. This may be the only review to see the short comings of this album but hopefully not the last.

After spending more than fifty hours listening to Common Existence over a period of three weeks, one of the main problems is the lack of progression and innovation in the music. Thursday have always had urban themes in their music but after ten years of ambulances, car crashes, buildings, guns, roads, highways and streets, has the dead horse been beaten enough yet? The first single off the album is called ‘Resuscitation of a Dead Man’. In an interview with Alternative Press Magazine lead singer Geoff Rickly explained that this song mirrored a real personal experience of him witnessing a cyclist getting hit by a car then revived by paramedics. ‘What other animals bring each other back from the dead?’ How does this song vary in meaning from ‘Unintended Long Term Affects’ or ‘Subway Funeral’, ‘The Other Side of Crash’, ‘Telegraph Avenue Kiss’ or even ‘Steps Ascending’? It has been done on Common Existence it has been done in A City By The Light Divided and even as far back as the suicidal themed Waiting from 1999. After ten years of listening to the same ideas strewn in different ways I have reached my final straw.

Common Existence has two songs that have been reengineered and mixed specifically for the album. ‘As He Climbed the Dark Mountain’ is a slight rework of the original song released in 2008 from their split release. ‘Time’s Arrow’ is a full version of the demo from Kill The House Lights ‘A Sketch for Time’s Arrow’ The newly mixed version of As He Climbed the Dark mountain includes a slightly detuned and echoed addition of backup lyrics to give vocals more depth. These slight changes degrade the song from its original in the context of a Thursday song. Have a listen….

Thursday – As he Climbed the Dark Mountain (Split Version)

Thursday – As He Climbed The Dark Mountain (Common Existence Version)

Time’s Arrow is actually an excellent improvement from the original acoustic recording, the only problem is the song really does not know when to quit when it is ahead. If it ended at 2:04 on the dot it would have been excellent. Instead it continues for more than two minutes in reverse with a final verse that was not necessary. This is a clear example of the production work by David Fridmann and support production from Andrew Everding the sixth member added to the group during production of War All The Time in 2003. Both individuals are melody driven engineers and it is understandable. David Fridmann played bass and engineering/production for Mercurcy Rev and Andrew Everding a piano and a synthesizer specialist. I applaud the effort for experimentation and to give the band a fresh sound but it did not work, not by a long shot.

The new emphasis on melody in Common Existence was a real hit or miss from track to track. It missed in songs like ‘Last Call’ and ‘Unintended Long Term Effects’ where guitars and screamo style vocals used to set the stage. To the contrary it actually boded well in songs like ‘Friends in the Armed Forces’ and ‘Love Has Led Us Astray’ These different styles actually cohesively got along with each other and lead a path to the possible future sound of the band.

New direction actually brings the final gripe of this album into fruition, as well as encompasses the previous ones. Where did the passion go? Where did the heart in songs like ‘Autobiography of a Nation’ and ‘Autumn Leaves Revisited’ go? After the fourth studio album you could see Thursday’s sound begin to really mature from the days of the young New Jersey music scene and funny insults against lead singer ‘Tone deaf Geoff’ Rickly . These experimental paths are smothering the perspectives of what made Thursday great. High energy, heart and even screaming evoke this primal urge in you it brings feeling to the surface. When you pick up and listen to anything from this group you do not do it to be coddled, you do it to have your eyes opened. Some of these tracks sound like they want to hold my hand through a dewy meadow. Songs like ‘Love Has Led Us Astray’ constantly kept coming to this peak point where you expect them to let loose but that force never came about and it would coast back down again. To put it in perspective here is a simple comment made from a youtube poster from a video post of this very song…

‘This song had the potential to be soaring and epic. It’s all BUILD UP BUILD UP and no climax where it needs to be’

The rest of the comment gets slightly derogatory so it is left out. If anyone wants to read it in its entirety, they can click the above link. That brutally honest remark just explains my sympathetic feeling. Most songs have this immense build up with no release. The only exceptions to this were ‘Beyond The Visible Spectrum’ and ‘You Were The Cancer’ These were the true highlights to Common Existence.

Optimism says that these are just the growing pains to a changing sound for the group. Pessimism says they have been releasing new material every two years since 1999 and they could use a break. The only type of person this album is going to disappoint is hardcore original fans of the band or anyone who spent a lot of time with Waiting and Full Collapse. It is an excellent album for first time listeners or newfound fans of post-hardcore rock. Common Existence is an solid album but nowhere near what was expected. A City By The Light Divided divided original fans but gained good critical acclaim. Common Existence is doing the exact same thing. The only people who are complaining are the ones who wanted a more classic gritty approach. From the looks of all the positive feedback it is highly unlikely that will ever happen again.

MP3:

Thursday – Resuscitation of a Dead Man

Buy at:

Thursday Online Store / Amazon

More info:

Website / Myspace

Tags: album