Joke about their “evolving” sound goes here
Oregon’s the Thermals have a knack for perfectly utilizing the first track on an album to blow your goddamn mind.
The oft-subversive post-pop-punk-rock (what?) band rose to prominence (relatively speaking) in 2006 with the razor sharp, biting, harsh as fuck songwriting of the Body, the Blood, the Machine. An overt and incredibly sarcastic tour de force decrying Jesus, God, the Church (that’s a catch-all in this instance) and everything in between, calling it an indictment might be putting it lightly.
It’s an album that’s pretty fucking hard to resist, especially when it starts off with “Here’s Your Future.” The album’s fastest and hardest track, it sets an incredible tone in both lyrics and the ridonkulous amount of hooks. The record is anchored by the single “A Pillar of Salt,” an equally energetic plea for moral cleanliness…or not.
Looking to make a similar splash on 2009’s year-end lists, the band is on the cusp of releasing their next slice of brilliance on the world, Now We Can See. True to form, the lead-off track is an undeniable piece of uniform excellence.
“When I Died” is another catchy-as-hell manifesto that sets the tone for a record that takes the band to new heights of fidelity and songwriting. You could change the lyrics of this song and it would be a total mainstream hit, the vocal melody and guitars as infectious as anything you’ll hear this year. But the lyrics are central to the appeal of the Thermals and “When I Died” is no exception. Hutch Harrison pens an unusual ode to evolution in reverse from the perspective of a man that didn’t quite make the full transition from land-walker to tetrapod, stuck in between losing the lungs and growing some gills, its spine already transitioning as well.
The flow of Harrison exclaiming, “So I can swim!” into the track’s brilliant guitar melody at the end of the song is sheer ecstasy and it only gets better from there, transitioning into an impossibly hook-laden album that pulls every trick out of the band’s magic bag (including a host of new ones). It’s not even April and I’m already stoked to put it on my 2009 Best-of list.
I’m not kidding folks. This is the real deal.
the Thermals - When I Died [3:22m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download the Thermals - Now We Can See [3:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download the Thermals - Here's Your Future: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadThe Thermals releases some wonderful albums with Sub Pop Records back in the day, but now hang out with the dudes and dudettes at Kill Rock Stars. Seriously, they’re really good.
