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.
Betrayal Is A Symptom
Thrice Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is not something that I grasp
Its something that I fake,
As I'm slipping, as I'm falling through the cracks,
Faith
Without actions is a mask,
For making the same mistakes
As I'm slipping as I'm falling through the cracks.
Somehow I find beauty in our failings,
Somehow I find meaning in these lies
Somehow I'm made perfect in this fracture,
Your back is begging sweetly for my knives,
I'm spilling blood,
Glancing down to hide my face,
I walk with eyes closed tight through monuments of grace,
Somehow I find beauty in our failings,
Somehow I find meaning in these lies
Somehow I'm made perfect in this fracture,
Your back is begging sweetly for my knives!
My faith is a front, I'm spilling blood,
Glancing down to hide my face, I walk with eyes closed
Through monuments of grace, I'm spilling blood
Glancing down to hide my face I walk with eyes closed
Through monuments of grace
Isn't it sweet how,
Trusted with angels,
And how so quickly
I break my promises?
Isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet?
The lyrics to Thrice's song "Betrayal Is A Symptom" are filled with contradictions, reflecting a sense of inner turmoil and confusion. The singer speaks of his struggle with faith, acknowledging that he is merely faking it as he slips and falls through the cracks. He admits that faith without action is merely a mask, hiding the same mistakes and failings. However, strangely enough, he seems to find beauty and meaning in these lies and fractures, going as far as to say that he finds perfection in them. His words imply a sense of self-destructiveness and a twisted sense of satisfaction in the act of betrayal.
The second stanza reinforces this idea of imbalance and self-destructiveness, with the singer admitting to spilling blood and hiding his face as he walks through monuments of grace. He speaks of finding beauty and meaning in failings and lies, almost as if he is revelling in them. The final stanza seems to suggest an awareness of his own hypocrisy and the damage he has caused to his own faith, asking rhetorical questions about how quickly he has broken his promises. His use of the word "sweet" further emphasises the twisted satisfaction he takes in the betrayal.
Overall, the lyrics suggest a sense of inner turmoil and contradiction, with the singer struggling to reconcile his own failings and inner darkness with his professed faith. The use of dark, violent and blasphemous imagery further reflects this sense of inner turmoil, with references to knives, blood and monuments of grace. The final words, "Isn't it sweet", suggest a sense of bitter irony and self-awareness, as if the singer is acknowledging his own failings with a sense of self-disgust.
Line by Line Meaning
Faith,
Belief in something greater
Is not something that I grasp
Difficult to fully comprehend
Its something that I fake,
Putting on a facade
As I'm slipping, as I'm falling through the cracks,
Struggling to hold on to belief
Faith
Belief in something greater
Without actions is a mask,
Words without true action
For making the same mistakes
Repeating past errors
Somehow I find beauty in our failings,
Seeing the positive in negatives
Somehow I find meaning in these lies
Finding significance in deceit
Somehow I'm made perfect in this fracture,
Becoming complete through brokenness
Your back is begging sweetly for my knives,
Itching to cause harm
I'm spilling blood,
Causing harm
Glancing down to hide my face,
Ashamed of actions
I walk with eyes closed tight through monuments of grace,
Going through the motions of religion
Isn't it sweet how,
Irony of the situation
Trusted with angels,
Religious responsibility
And how so quickly
Swift betrayal
I break my promises?
Unreliable and deceitful
Isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet, isn't it sweet?
Repeating ironic situation
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DUSTIN MICHAEL KENSRUE, EDWARD CARRINGTON BRECKENRIDGE, JAMES RILEY BRECKENRIDGE, TEPPEI TERANISHI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Brendan Foley
Probably the song that first drew me into Thrice and kept me around. I love what they've done since and how they branched out, but this song still hits the spot just right.
Tony Ramirez
My all time favorite Thrice song :)
El abuelo de superman
I’ll go to a thrice concert before I go, pinky promise.
Bj Dickerson
Only 2 comments!!!!?.... This was the 1st album i listened to, a good friend burned it to a cd for me. The rest is history lol...... But ppl need to listen to this ENTIRE ALBUM.
Nathan Childress
An all time classic, for sure. They’re later stuff was cool too, but this heavy era of Thrice is my favorite