Free from the grip of the majors again, the band who stood toe to toe with Thrice as one of the two pinnacles of emo's alternative movement have been decidedly quiet of late. Sure, there was that live album, and last year's EP with Envy, but their last studio record was nearly three years ago now. While their former labelmates have been busy with their four EP opus, Thursday's new album has been roughly a year in the making. That's one year, as in almost every single day, six hours a day, for twelve months. It's a luxury that few bands can afford, and even fewer who do so produce albums that show anything more than wasted time. But in the case of Common Existence, boy, was that time worth it.

The first thing that hits you about Common Existence is its sheer attention to sonic detail. Oh, you don't notice it at first. 'Resuscitation Of A Dead Man' whirls in like the Thursday tracks of old, Rickley's rallying cry of "Ambulance, let me in" with that visceral familiarity. But over the course of 3 minutes 22 seconds little things creep in - the atmospherics behind the vocals, the organ melody, McIlrath's backing vocals, until it literally collapses like buildings all around your ears. On the surface, it's just the little moments of magic across the album building - the vocal mix in the middle of 'Subway Funeral', the slow build from languidity to the shrieking yells on 'Circuits Of Fever', that vibrating air feeling on 'Time's Arrow' - yes, even before the music warps and rewinds back to match that sense of regret. Whereas taking such a direction makes for tracks that are bloated and greedy in the hands of the likes of Axl Rose, Thursday have managed to carefully avoid throwing the kitchen sink at the record.

We last heard from Rickley on the "emo power-violence" project United Nations, and he's lost none of his taste for the bitter and visceral, nor for the beauty in such moments. Stark medical images crop up again and again, and the image of "a thousand paper cranes left out in the rain" on 'Unintended Long Term Effects' is simply perfect. It's also likely he'll get stick for 'Friends In The Armed Forces' across the pond, simply for saying what everyone's thinking.

But it's the way it all comes together on tracks like the blustering 'Last Call', the deliberately drowning of backing vocals and tunes under guitars that churn like the rush of blood in your ears. Common Existence is by no means a kind album - but not in the sense of death metal or obscure noise. This is a world of near deaths, abandoned weddings, cold feet, the moments that make you sick to the stomach. The moments, ironically, where we most know we're alive, and definitely not dreaming. Looking back over the it, it's not hard to see why Rickley cites the likes of Martin Amis and David Foster Wallace as key influences. Somehow Thursday have managed to create the perfect marriage of atmospheric layers and lyrics to create it. We're still very much in Thursday's universe, the warped strings on 'Beyond...' and '...The Dark Mountain''s melting melodies and street lamp slide guitar should tell you as much. If Say Anything are the Broadway Musical of the genre, then Thursday are its Frank Miller - but done by a chronic schizophrenic, all cross hatching and scratched paper. But like that transition from paper to film... We've just never been quite this immersed in it.

Rating: 4/5 by Ruth Midget

Tracklisting

1. Resuscitation Of A Dead Man
2. Last Call
3. As He Climbed The Dark Mountain
4. Friends In The Armed Forces
5. Beyond The Visible Spectrum
6. Time's Arrow
7. Unintended Long Term Effects
8. Circuits Of Fever
9. Subway Funeral
10. Love Has Led Us Astray
11. You Were The Cancer

Further links

Thursday dotnet

The Thursday official online site.

Epitaph Records

Sprawling for THE punk label, still after all these years