The first thing I noticed when I put on Thrice's Major/Minor was how much heavier it was than Beggars. This is finally the record I've been waiting for since I first heard The Artist in the Ambulance eight years ago.
Don't take that to mean that I don't like any of the other records the band put out in between. This album just sounds like a natural bridge between Artist and Vheissu, rather than just diving into the progressive sound as they did. There's so many great things going on with this record I'm not even sure where I should begin.
""Yellow Belly"" opens with a great guitar riff layered on top of a busy drum beat (busy to my guitarist ears; my roommate will probably tell me it's simple). Vocalist Dustin Kensrue is able to showcase his hardcore chops from the earlier albums with a decent yell in the chorus, but his singing ability shines through as well. The verses drop into a slow, soulful lament before the chorus revs back up into anger, a great opening for this record.
This record has a more guitar-heavy sound, which harks back to their early albums, while still taking some of the progressive maturity from their last couple of records and pushing onward. Kensrue's vocals and Riley Breckenridge's drumming are the most noticeable places to find these changes, with more complex beats than their earlier hardcore records and smoother transitions between singing and screaming.
The decidedly lo-fi opening to ""Blinded"" is just beautiful and gives the track a grungy feel. The drums have an almost neurotic feel to them, with the syncopation on the snare making me feel almost nervous, which is fitting with the tone of the lyrics. ""I was always one of the good ones / keeping tabs on everyone else / sure that I was one of the chosen / but I was a child of hell,"" sings Kensrue, an anxious ode to losing one's way in the moral world of religion.
""Call It in the Air"" starts slow, the intensity fading before picking back up in the chorus of ""Treading Paper.""
""Blur"" opens with a standard punk drum beat, bringing to mind early songs like ""Deadbolt"" and ""Under a Killing Moon,"" before it drops into a complex bridge that brings the maturity that the band has developed back to the fore. ""Words in the Water"" sounds like it could be off of Vheissu, but it is a welcome addition after the speed of ""Blur.""
""Anthology"" is actually in 6/8 time, which gives it a driving feel, but without the anger of the rest of the album. It actually sounds lamenting, with wailing guitars mimicking the pain and love in the lyrics. The uncommon time signature makes this a standout track, elevating the song far above four-on-the-floor radio rock.
Ending on the unexpected calm of ""Disarmed,"" this is probably the most surprising record of the year for me, far surpassing the expectations I had set for this disc after the subdued Beggars and daunting Alchemy Index. Congratulations boys, you've finally outdone yourselves.
