Entertainment Weekly (No. 847, p.87) - "...[H]igh-minded rock..." - Grade: B+
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Thrice: Dustin Kensrue (vocals, guitars, acoustic guitar, Fender Rhodes piano, glockenspiel, percussion); Teppei Teranishi (guitars, acoustic guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond b-3 organ, synthesizer, background vocals); Edward Breckenridge (synthesizer, bass synthesizer, bass guitar, background vocals); Riley Breckenridge (drums, background vocals); Steve Osborne (programming, background vocals).
Recording information: Bearsville, Studios, Bearsville, NY.
Thrice are part of a post-hardcore tradition that draws on the sonic crush of nu-metal, the varying dynamics and textures of progressive metal, the expressiveness of emo, and the melodic sensibility of mainstream hard rock from the'90s and 2000s. Everything about VHEISSU, the band's fifth album, screams ambition, from its cryptogrammatic cover to the complex, shifting landscape of music within. This is especially true on tracks that find Thrice venturing into dreamy, tuneful waters, as on the soaring "Atlantic," or variegating their style, as on the dancing, piano-driven melody of "For Miles."
But none of this is to say that Thrice haven't maintained every iota of their heaviness, with vocalist Dustin Kensrue alternating between plaintive rock crooning and high-impact screamo intensity. There are plenty of reflective, atmospheric passages, and meticulously layered guitars (the intro to "Between the End and Where We Lie" approaches the cinematic with its keyboard, string, and syncopated drum parts), but Thrice intersperse their experimentation with blasts of white-hot metal fury that will satisfy their old fans, while the broadened palette of VHEISSU should win them plenty of new ones.
