In 2000, Thrice signed with Sub City Records and released two LP's. The first, Identity Crisis (2000), only received 1.5 stars in the AMG review and little buzz. The second, The Illusion of Safety (2002), was widely acclaimed and received attention from major record labels. Even though Thrice's music has always included metal influences, The Illusion of Safety contained a heavier metalcore sound. The album was recorded in Beltsville, Maryland and the track The Beltsville Crucible reflects this.
In 2003 Thrice signed up with Island Records and released The Artist in the Ambulance, which featured more metal oriented songs while keeping true to their hardcore influences. In 2005 a DVD outlining their entire career to date was released under the title If We Could Only See Us Now. It included a CD with live tracks from the Apple Store and various b-sides.
Thrice released their fourth full-length album, Vheissu, on October 18, 2005. The album was characterized by many critics as being experimentally different, using non-traditional Thrice elements in the process. From keyboard melodies ("For Miles") to Japanese music-box undertones ("Music Box") to chain gang chant choruses ("The Earth Will Shake"), Vheissu introduced a new sound to the band's post-hardcore roots. UK producer Steve Osborne, whose past credits include many Brit-pop hits, was sought by Thrice to gain a new perspective on the songwriting process, enabling the band to expand their musical influences and produce a different album. The album garnered widespread critical acclaim and peaked at #15 on the Billboard 200.
The band releasedRed Sky, an EP comprised of various b-sides as well as live recordings, shortly after Vheissu.
Thrice released the first and second volume of The Alchemy Index, a highly experimental project based on the four traditional elements (fire, water, earth, and air), on October 16th 2007. Over the summer Thrice parted ways with Island records and signed with Vagrant. The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II - Fire & Water was released on October 16, 2007, and sold 28,000 copies in its first week. The album consists of the first two volumes, Fire and Water, and features 12 songs, 6 on each disk. The third and fourth volumes, Air & Earth were released on April 15, 2008.
The "Fire" disc features the heavier post-hardcore sound traditional Thrice fans will quickly embrace, harking back to their pre-Vheissu albums. The "Water" disc, however, is comprised of ambient songs similar to those found in Vheissu, Thrice's previous album release. The "Air" disc brings a whole new element of electronic elements and delayed guitar riffs to Thrice's sound. In "Earth", much like Dustin Kensrue's solo album, "Please Come Home", Thrice introduces an indie-folk sound combining intricate piano and acoustic guitar.
Thrice's sixth studio album Beggars was released digitally through Vagrant Records in the UK on August 9, 2009 and in the US on August 11 with a physical release containing bonus material pencilled in for September 15. These dates deviate from the original proposed release date of October 13 because of a leak via Vagrant Records web player, which has meant the artwork for the album has also changed. The first single to be taken from the album is All the World Is Mad and was first made available through Guitar Hero: World Tour on July 23.
Dustin Kensrue has described the album as being "more visceral and more raw - both in the songwriting and in the overall sound. It moves with a different energy than any of our past records. It was born out of us playing together in a room, almost as a backlash to the giant headgame that was The Alchemy Index" and has been well received critically.
The seventh studio album Major/Minor came out on September 20, 2011 through Vagrant Records. Yellow Belly, Promises and a few other songs were made available for the listeners to stream online before the release date. The album received extremely positive reviews from many online websites. Alex Djaferis of Absolutepunk.net gave Major/Minor a rating of 95%. Tracks like Promises and Listen Through Me reflected a natural progression from the sound Thrice created in Beggars, which was widely appreciated by the early listeners.
Thrice decided to take a break from being a full time band on November 21, 2011. In late spring/early summer Thrice announced the 'Farewell' tour for the spring/summer of 2012 , which would be the bands final tour before going into an indefinite hiatus.
In early 2015 it was announced that the band intends to release new music and tour again. Announcements were done via the bands website http://www.thrice.net/ and social media outlets with an accompanying picture with "Thrice 2015" text.
All The World Is Mad
Thrice Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We are demons that hide in the mirror.
But the blood on our hands paints a picture exceedingly clear.
We are brimming with cumbersome, murderous greed,
And malevolence deep and profound.
We do unspeakable deeds, does our wickedness know any bounds?
Something's gone terribly wrong with everyone,
All the world is mad.
Darkness brings terrible things, the sun is gone
What vanity! Our sad, wretched fires.
We can't medicate man to perfection again,
We can't legislate peace in our hearts.
We can't educate sin from our souls, it's been there from the start.
But the blind lead the blind into bottomless pits,
Still we smile and deny that we're cursed.
But of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst.
Oh, what little light we have!
It only serves to show
The snares and seeds of wrath
We have already sewn on every path.
The lyrics to Thrice's "All the World is Mad" depict a bleak and damning view of humanity. The band accuses us of being fake, hypocritical, and recklessly violent. They claim that we are "saints made of plaster" who laugh on cue and "demons that hide in the mirror" who are too afraid to confront our own evil deeds. Furthermore, the blood on our hands paints an "exceedingly clear" picture of our wrongdoing, indicating that we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we are blameless.
The song expands on this critique by expressing a sense of deep despair and frustration. Thrice describes our greed and malevolence as "cumbersome" and "deep and profound," suggesting that they are an integral part of our nature rather than a fleeting temptation or moral failing. The band then goes so far as to imply that our vices are beyond redemption. We cannot achieve perfection through medication, legislation, or education, for our sins are already embedded in our souls "from the start." Instead of trying to sanatize or reform ourselves, we must confront the darkness within and acknowledge that the world is "mad."
Line by Line Meaning
We are saints made of plaster, our laughter is canned,
Our lives are fake and manufactured, our happiness is forced and artificial.
We are demons that hide in the mirror.
We have inner demons that we hide from others and even ourselves.
But the blood on our hands paints a picture exceedingly clear.
Our guilt and wrongdoing is undeniable and visible to all.
We are brimming with cumbersome, murderous greed,
We are filled with excessive and deadly desire for wealth.
And malevolence deep and profound.
We possess a strong and intense desire to do evil.
We do unspeakable deeds, does our wickedness know any bounds?
Our immoral actions are so heinous that we question if there are limits to our wickedness.
Something's gone terribly wrong with everyone,
There is a major flaw in humanity that affects us all.
All the world is mad.
The entire world is affected by this madness and chaos.
Darkness brings terrible things, the sun is gone
When we are in dark times, terrible outcomes are likely and hope seems lost.
What vanity! Our sad, wretched fires.
We take pride in our destructive tendencies, even though they ultimately lead to our downfall.
We can't medicate man to perfection again,
We cannot use medicine or any external means to make humanity perfect.
We can't legislate peace in our hearts.
Laws and regulations cannot create peace or harmony within us.
We can't educate sin from our souls, it's been there from the start.
We cannot learn or teach away our sinful nature, as it has always been a part of us.
But the blind lead the blind into bottomless pits,
People without understanding lead others into disastrous situations.
Still we smile and deny that we're cursed.
Even though our actions are doomed to fail, we continue to act as if we are blessed.
But of all our iniquities ignorance may be the worst.
Out of all our sins and mistakes, not realizing the truth is the most damaging.
Oh, what little light we have!
Our understanding and awareness are limited.
It only serves to show
Our knowledge only reveals
The snares and seeds of wrath
The traps and causes of intense anger and hostility
We have already sewn on every path.
We have already set ourselves up for failure in every aspect of our lives.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Written by: EDDIE BRECKENRIDGE, JAMES RILEY BRECKENRIDGE, DUSTIN MICHAEL KENSRUE, TEPPEI TERANISHI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind