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Feature
Thrice
"Artist in the Ambulance"
by: Sun-J

After representing screamo with there indie release, Illusion of Safety, the quartet from So cal (as in Irvine) jumps ship, and releases their first major debut, Artist in the Ambulance. Usually when kids get signed to majors they sell out. They change their style they add catchy choruses and simplify their scales. They start to dress a certain way, and dare I say, the even start to...DANCE!!! While Thrice wisely opts to shy away from the staged dancing, I will say this, the riffs do seem to be simplified, and some songs do have a longer chorus, but have no fear, this album is full of screamo to piss your parents off. The album dives right into the first track, "Cold Cash and Colder Hearts,? where we can feel Dustin Kensrue's heart beating through his vocals as he warns of the evils of apathy and capitalism. "Under a Killing Moon," is a superior, guitar driven cut with a nifty drum pattern. "All that's Left" begins with powerful words, "One day the dreamers died within us," and swivels entertainingly to a lyrically driven breakdown, ?In summers past we?d challenge fate with higher pitch and perfect aim, standing fast we?d radiate a light we loved but never named, but the answers never came, our shadows never looked the same.? "Silhouette," and "Stare at the Sun" are packed with riveting guitar licks for the masses. "Paper Tigers" is old school Thrice with its metal-speed chords and intense screaming. The title track is the standout track while "Don't Tell and We Wont Ask" is analogous to Illusion of Safety?s "The Beltsville Crucible." "The Abolition of Man" is a CS Lewis inspired song with bombastic drumming. With backing from a major, thrice was further able to feed its fan base by supplying liner notes and lyrics to every song. This is a strong major debut, and I'm sure soundscan will prove this to be true.
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