Thursday Brings The Best of the Week

Zach Fraser

Assistant A&E Editor

Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Thursday Common Existence

Thursday has either been loved or loathed by critics since their beginnings, some media hailing them as the pioneers of the post-hardcore genre and other’s treating them as nothing more than a musical scapegoat.

The band is no stranger to being accused of falling into the abyss by the shadow their successful breakthrough album “Full Collapse” cast, but Thursday looked to rid the “washed up” stigma that plagues the band once and for all with their most recent release.

“Common Existence” is the fifth-studio album from the New Jersey natives and one of the hardest hitting Thursday records since the bands beginnings.

Make sure to catch your breath before you take your first listen to “Common Existence" because the only breath of calamity you’ll find on this album is in the fractions of seconds between tracks.

The first song on the album, “Resuscitation of a Dead Man” opens like a bullet flying out of a .22. The song draws on up-beat drums, hard hitting guitars and guest vocals from Tim McIIrath of Rise Against.

Lyrics from the entire Thursday catalog never seize to draw connections to the deepest of human emotions, and “Common Existence” is no different when lead singer Geoff Rickley expresses his inner-struggles on “Last Call.”

“Everything we build,” sings Rickley, “It falls apart, and the architect abandons us."

The rest of “Common Existence” follows in the path of highly distorted guitars, deep bass lines and sonic keyboards with key tracks such as “Unintended Long Term Effects” and “You Were the Cancer,” keeping your pulse straight through the rough until the 11-song album concludes.
For a band that has struggled against harsh critics and fans for the last eight years, it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel is finally shining trough for Thursday.

Rickley, who knows the battle is far from over for Thursday, confesses on the album that their common existence has been revived and the future may be uncertain, but is surely on the horizon.

“Can you feel a pulse? It’s been gone for so long, can you start it? Can you feel a pulse? It’s been gone for so long, let’s restart it.”