Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intelligent and memorable., January 31, 2003
This album was recommended to me by the Wickerman and Tyke Chandler (two great reviewers on this site), and I have to give a great thanks to them because it's an album I'm enjoying very much. As I said, it's intelligent and diverse music, that goes way beyond "punk". Thrice mixes the "emo" punk style with hardcore screaming and metal. Dustin Kensrue, the singer, can go from singing in a melodic voice to an intense scream, and can do it well. The guitarists are pretty good. They don't just play 3 chords; there are guitar harmonies and solos reminiscent of Iron Maiden. The drummer is insanely good. He's fast, but his fills are thought out and perfectly executed. Yes, this is a very talented band. The songs rarely exceed 3 minutes. I usually listen to metal or progressive rock, so I'm generally used to longer songs, but Thrice can do so much so well in 3 minutes that the songs are just as strong as many of the longer ones I like. The music can go from melodic/emo to hardcore punk, with heavy riffing like Metallica and guitar harmonies like Iron Maiden. These guys are pretty diverse. The lyrics blew me away. Rarely are bands this intelligent. I guess I shouldn't really go into the lyrics, but I'll just say they are very memorable and they'll make you think. I don't want to go on for too long here so I'll just say if you happen to be reading this review, try this. There's a good chance you'll like it.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best of the Best, October 12, 2003
The Illusion of Safety is the best album that Thrice has pumped out so far. The guitar is amazing. This CD could still be one of the top selling albums without any lyrics. You can feel the passion of the band flowing through the your speakers on every song. The difference between this album and The Artist in the Ambulance is that order in which it was written. For the Illusion of Safety, the instrumentals were written first. All of the guitar, bass, and drum parts were completed before the vocals were ever imagined. Dustin had to write each song so that it would fit-in with the instrumentals. On the Artist in the Ambulance, Dustin had written every song before any instrumentals were composed. The passion in The Illusion of Safety is mainly in the instrumentals, but that doesn't mean that the lyrics aren't heart-filled. Each song is extremely powerful and fun to listen to. If there you are looking for a CD that combines harcore, emo, punk, and a few other genres, buy this album. you won't regret it!
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Showing the kids how it's done, March 11, 2002
My how the music scene can change in such a short time. A year ago I was gung-ho about the whole sing/scream thing... Thursday, Boy Sets Fire, et al. Now, my appreciation for those bands has diminished by the sheer number of other groups that have worn that style out and done a mediocore job (Glasseater, anyone?). At first, I wrote Thrice off as another one of these middle-of-the-road emo/hardcore/we-want-to-appeal-to-everyone-core bands. Yet, for some reason or another, I took a chance and bought this album. Boy was I wrong. This is what the whole sing/scream thing should be about. A great thing about these guys is that their foundation is in new school punk. It's nice to hear some post-hardcore that isn't so overwrought with Quicksand and Fugazi influences. So yeah, there are some great punk tunes on here, with melodic guitar leads and pretty vocal harmonies. Then, out of nowhere, the band gets dirty on you. The drummer spazzes out, the guitarist busts out the Iron Maiden riffs (thankfully devoid of any gimmick or novelty), and those pretty vocals become manly screams. The punk/hardcore transitions are smooth, and they experiment with many song structures and moods. The variety here is quite commendable. The band mainly creates solid songs within their own consistent sound, but they still are able to reach hard and soft extremes with skill. My only complaint is that some of these songs are definitely filler. Some of the songs also are a bit too schizophrenic, leaving a perfectly good hook behind far too early on. All in all, though, this is a thought-provoking, creative, inspiring album. Well done.
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by Thrice 
