Common Existence (CD - 2009)

Audio Mixer: Dave Fridmann.

Recording information: Stadium Red, Harlem, NY; Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, NY.

Photographers: Dennis Keeley; Mike Chapman ; Michael Brandt.

When "screamo" broke big earlier in the decade, New Jersey's Thursday were one of the wave's biggest beneficiaries. Hit albums and a stint on a major label resulted, but they were always too creatively restless to fit anyone's definition of what that kind of band should be. The group made considerable strides with 2006's A CITY BY THE LIGHT DIVIDED, but they've truly fulfilled a great deal of their potential on its follow-up, COMMON EXISTENCE. The visceral power and loud guitars of hardcore are still present and accounted for, but singer Geoff Rickly's vocals are more sung than screamed, and keyboardist Andrew Everding's contributions are more central than ever. Epic tracks like "As He Climbed the Dark Mountain" and the soaring "Unintended Long Term Effects" echo both classic post-hardcore like Quicksand (whose Walter Schreiffels guests on one song) and atmospheric prog. Thursday continues to grow over a decade into their lifespan. minimize