BEST ‘DAY YET
BY LEN SOUSA
Thursday - A City By The Light Divided
Album Review
A City By The Light Divided sounds like the album Thursday has been waiting to make. Once boxed into the emo/screamo craze of the early-2000s, the band has steered away from their early labels and recorded an album owing more to The Cure than their screamo contemporaries.
The three years since their last release have matured the band, and gone is the unreigned thrashing of their previous albums. While they continue to play louder than ever, David Fridmann’s production has revealed a previously unheard texture to their sound. I expected lead singer Geoff Rickly’s voice to punch through the mix as it always had, but instead, the levels on this album are much more refined—solidifying its dark mood.
While Rickly’s lyrics have their moments (“she’s the song that you tried to sing/and the note that you couldn’t hit”), they are far too few as he continues his odd obsession with vehicular crashes in verse after verse. However, the album does contain what is arguably Rickly’s best vocal performance in “Running From The Rain.” Other worthwhile tracks include “The Other Side Of The Crash,” “Sugar In The Sacrament,” and “Telegraph Avenue Kiss.”
Aside from an out-of-place instrumental with an overlong title and a hokey refrain in “We Will Overcome,” there’s a good deal worth listening to in this release from a band that many thought had seen its best days. Whether this is the group’s best work to date may be debated, but one thing is certain: Thursday has never sounded better.
Originally Published:
Skope Magazine
