Island
2006
A City By The Light Divided
About This Album
It's becoming rather apparent that Thursday have just about outgrown the new-school post-hardcore scene that they were partially responsible for helping to birth in the early 2000s. They've always been a step smarter than the hundreds of bands that appeared in Full Collapse's wake, learning over time to rely much less on the scream/sing dynamic of early releases, realizing that subtle time shifts or powerfully layered buildups can trigger just as strong an emotional release as being simply brash and loud. And considering they were teetering on a breakup before this album was yet a notion, fans should feel even luckier at the arrival of their expansive fourth full-length, A City by the Light Divided. The same dismal and dark atmosphere that pervaded War All the Time is back, but this time with a sliver of faint hope appearing amidst the incessant urban sprawl of outward despair. Death, love, desolation, growth, and hope are the touchstones for personal lyrical content, as a literate Geoff Rickly reflects on the band's existence and his own. Religious questions materialize in the divine catharsis of "Sugar in the Sacrament," while a high-school friendship that ended with his friend getting killed by a train emerges as a sustaining theme -- superficially in the driving "Counting 5-4-3-2-1" and more figuratively in the soaring ambience of "Running from the Rain.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,7 and 8)

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