Thrice - Identity Crisis (11 tracks) +Album Reviews +Used CD available for Swap

The first of three amazing albums

David - Thrice fan | Liverpool, England | 03/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Thrice is amazing, they are by far my favorate band and in my opinion one of the best in their genre. I first heard the intro to T&C and immediately bought the CD, a decision i've never regretted. They have all the qualities of a good band; good lyrics, good singing and good instrumentals.

The album opens with Identity Crisis, one of the best on the album and an excellent way to open it. Brings you right into the feel of the music, your immediately taken in; swallowed up.

Then in Phoesnix Ignition comes a good acoustic intro, some good lyrics and then into one of the heavier tracks with an excellent bridge in the middle tieing the song together.

In your hands combines some good riffs and harmonies used with the lyrics, well executed to give a great song.

Then To What End is very much the bands emotions towards parts of life, again there are great riffs and lyrics.

Ultra Blue, my second favorate, a truely amazing piece of music. The lyrics combined with supporting guitar is amazing. The guitar on its own is superb, especially in the bridge/solo.

As The Ruin Falls is another heavy song but fits in well with the aura of the other tracks. Leads well into the next track.

The Next Day I wouldn't class as a song but the eye of the storm, a little piece or maybe an interval. With the storm in the background and the soft guitar is quite relaxing and in its own way is an emotion of the band, relaxed and happy.

After that brief interlude we lead back into another of the heaviest tracks, A Torch To End All Torches, the heavy guitar is well placed and gives great effect, alot of thought went into this song and was well worth it. The Next Day lingers on in this track with a calm to it all and well brought back into the song with the heavy guitar.

Unquestioned Answers was a good intro and some great guitar, then topped with good vocals and lyrics.

The second best intro takes place in Under Par, amazing guitar. Then the heavy guitar takes over and helped by the vocals makes an excellent song.

And finally the best song with the best intro, T&C, amazing! Truely something that should be in a musical history book. It is amazing, every part is played perfectly and every element of the song is great with each other. The vocals, the guitar, the everything, there is nothing better that this, i can't think of anything that can top it. Then leads into a climax at the end as the album is brought to an end. The CD could be bought for this one track alone it's so good.

Every song is 10/10, truely amazing and just adds to an amzing album, then Thrice followed this up with two more excellent albums. This is a must buy, if you don't you have a problem and should see a psychiatrist. The best album of the best band.

David"

Superb

Enigmatic | UK | 01/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A seamless blend of cruching Metallica-inspired riffage and emotional hardcore at its most melodic. Lead singer Dustin Kensrue's voice moves effortlessly from melodic singing to passionate screaming, and the lyrics show an intelligence and insight rare in modern bands, with To What End being one of the best examples of the band's ability to articulate themselves. It's a pity that the subtleties of the lyrics have a tendency to be lost amidst the music, but you're never left in any doubt of the passion and conviction behind the songs. The melody of the opening title track is simply irrestible, and the variation in their music is demonstrated by the second track Phoenix Ignition, which opens like an acoustic ballad and then develops into the heaviset song on the album, remaining powerful yet melodic. Other highlights come towards the end, with the powerful Torch To End All Torches, the memorably melodic Unquestioned Answers and Under Par showing their metal influences, before finishing on a high with Teppei's solo in T&C. My main grip with the album is that it finishes too early, with 11 fairly short tracks, one of which (The Next Day) is a simple 1 minute instrumental which really can't be considered a song at all. Still, at least it means there isn't a surplus minute on the album, and packed into a short space of time you get enough brilliant songs to persuade you to hit the repeat button. You're not being short-changed here. Even the poppier songs like Ultra Blue (which the band claim to hate) and In Your Hands have a heavy underpinning and don't get irritating. In fact, it's a pity that todays "pop punk" merchants don't write songs more like Ultra Blue.For a debut album, the production, musicianship and songwriting are simply superb; light years ahead of their demo release. It's easy to see why this album won Thrice such rave reviews in the US underground; it's a CD worthy of any collection, and one which is worth many repeat listenings. If you liked Thrice's album The Illusion Of Safety, then it's a must buy. And if you're wondering which one to buy, buy them both! (this is my personal favourite; most fans prefer the later IOS, but both are steets ahead of most of their contemporaries)"

Technical, musical and lyrical KNOCKOUT

B | La Mirada, CA United States | 03/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD, simply put, is a MUST BUY! I have followed THRICE since the beginning and have owned this CD for over a year. I haven't stopped listening to it. It definitely satisfies. THRICE puts the core in hardcore. Each song bleeds passion and each song cuts right to the soul. Everything about this album leaves me speechless. Still waiting for the next one."

Not very tight, but AMAZING!

S | New York | 03/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard "To What End" on a compilation a while back and was amazed but also positive that the rest of their music couldn't possibly be as great. Up to that point I had heard so few punk songs (I'm not going to play the genre game- call them screamo or whatever if you want, but if bands like Sum 41 can be called punk I certainly think Thrice can too) that were as meaningful and well written as that song, and I assumed that it was them at their best and would be found on an album full of medicore filler tracks. When I eventually obtained a copy of Identity Crisis I found out just how wrong I was.

I won't say that this is Thrice at their best, but its damn close. Thrice's later work was much more tight than this but I have to say that I really don't mind the guitar solos being all over the place and the lack of song structure. On the one hand its usually a sign of a band lacking maturity to lack a tight structure but in Thrice's case their lyrics and general songwriting do a lot of negate this impression. At the very least it kept things interesting. While in many ways Thrice was playing punk music, their not using the verse/chorus formula along with their use of guitar solos definately contributed to making this more memorable than most punk albums. Generic three cord punk rock this is not.

But more importantly than the structure of the songs or the genre was the songs themselves: they were simply some of the best written songs out there: the opening track with its soft verses and shouted choruses, "T & C" with its great guitar intro, "Ultra Blue"'s guitar work, and a "Torch to End All Torche" and "To What End"'s lyrics. Meaningful lyrics, great music backing it up, and a sound that stands apart not only from other Thrice CD's but from most other punk/posthardcore/screamo- a more than worthy first (full length at least as far as I know) effort.

Now for the bad news. There's isn't much, mostly just the above mentioned lack of song structure which unfortunately makes it sound less mature, but perhaps thats just because people have come to associate tight songs with mature musicianship. The songs also might sound like an early effort because of the contrast between this album's production and that on their later releases. Thats not fair to Thrice, and in the end it doesn't really take anything away from this release. This is essentially Thrice playing punk rock with some hardcore influences which makes it sound more primitive than the post-hardcore sound of later Thrice but which, like the production, doesn't take anything away from this release's quality. A few of the songs are also somewhat weak, for example "A Torch to End All Torches" doesn't get really good until the end. The first part is a sort of generic punk song but then its slows down and after a fairly long instramental Dustin comes back with a completely different sounding ending and lyrics that are as Christian as you can get without sounding overbearing, though its possible that those unfamiliar with Christian imagery won't even recognize it (but "by his grace I am sustained" gave it away for me). A few others aren't quite as amazing as some of the above mentioned ones, though none of them are bad or worthy of skipping.

This was the first Thrice CD I ever heard so I can't say how fans who have heard newer Thrice first will react but at the very least they will like if they don't love it like I do. Its good music, do yourself a favor and buy it."

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