This band is long past its prime. They will never recreate anything half as good as The Alchemy Index.
Alchemy Index is four very different sounding eps covering the widest range of Thrice sounds. Seems unreasonable to think every 10 track album that follows would have to match the expanse of those Eps. The Alchemy Index eps are super cool and the most artistic project from the band.
They haven’t released anything that outdoes beggars…but I’ve sure enjoyed a lot of the output. That’s just gonna be really hard to top
For what it's worth, I know a few people in real life who think To Be Everywhere is their best record. All that matters to me is that I still care about them. Lots of bands from that era haven't aged nearly as well.
Beggars and Vheissu are top of the class for me, and I think TBE and Air EP are right up there too. Every album (except Identity Crisis) has something that I hold in high value on a Thrice fan.
I don't think it's crazy to argue that Alchemy Index was their magnum opus. I'm still a pretty big fan of everything this band has ever released, but I do feel that the post-hiatus records haven't quite reached the highs of their earlier material. Could just be nostalgia too though. That being said, I'd never look at this band as "past their prime". One of the reasons their in my top 5 bands ever is because of the evolution of their sound and their ability to keep me interested for 20+ years with each new release.
Dustin's voice has improved so much the past few years older tracks have this new mammoth quality to them
They're still being coy about next year: https://www.ocregister.com/2022/12/...sion-of-safety-before-local-anniversary-gigs/
Pretty sure there will be an anniversary tour. Not sure on the reworked/remaster version of TAITA, but that would be neat.
now that west is out i can finally drop my bizarro thrice take that i think their best post hiatus cut is unitive east lmao