Reviews
The Thermals
Fucking A
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-03-17
I thought this band was Canadian, they aren't. They are in fact out of Portland and i'm a bit confused as to how I came to think they were Canadian. Regardless the band is The Thermals, and the sound is somewhere on the cusp between punk and very hard rock music. I heard the big song off this album "How You Know" around six months ago and have wanted to hear the album ever since. It took me this long to find all of it.
So what can you expect out of "Fucking A"? You can expect 12 short, concise songs that never take their collective foot off of the pedal. The album runs for 26 minutes, which would be disappointing if the 26 minutes weren't so much bloody fun. Vocally the best comparison I can come up with for Hutch Harris is that his voice actually brings to mind a strong comparison to either Ted Leo, or Jim Adkins from Jimmy Eat World. Except for imagine either of those guys using their voice but doing so in a pure punk style. Hutch Harris has a good voice, although my one complaint is that he doesn't show a ton of range due to the style of track 1-12 being relatively similar. Come to think of it this is why normally I stray away from punk/hard rock. I like variety in my music, and it is such a restrictive sound. With this album though it is only a minor complaint. The band isn't spectacular, but they are aggressive and sometimes that is all you need to be. Think Ted Leo & The Pharmacists meet Billy Talent (when they are going full throttle) and you might be able to imagine the sound.
"You spilled water like love and now we'll tak it if you can't sake it", opens the infectious and loveable single "How We Know". If you were lucky enough to hear The Thermals this is likely the song you heard. And in all honesty if you bought the album entirely on the strength of this song you might very well have been disappointed. This song actually kinda follows a screamo format with most of the verses and even the chorus sometimes being sung softer than anything on the album, but from time to time Hutch turns the fucker up and is more or less screaming out his lyrics. On the softer verses you'll definitely see my Jim Adkins comparison. Instrumentally the song revolves around a very catchy but awfully simple sounding guitar riff. On the difficulty scale the album and this song don't score high marks, but sometimes it is better to do something in your range extremely well than to try and be something you aren't.
Looking for a pure punk track? I suggest "Forward" this song 2 minues and 11 seconds of frantic yet fun punk rock. This song must take a lot out of Butch live because dude doesn't slow down for a second. There isn't even an instrumental interlude before verses, he just starts right back up again. The band keeps pace again without a high scale of difficulty, just thrashing away on their instruments. Songs like this one is likely why the band has been embraced and accepted into the punk community. Experimental punk is fucking cool though on an aside. That genre needs a swift kick in the ass and bands pushing boundaries like this are just the people to do it.
If you liked "How You Know" and want more like it then "Let Your Earth Quake Baby" is going to be your best bet. I really like all the songs on the album, but this one is currently impressing me the most. On my second listen to the album this song was what spawned me to make the Ted Leo comparison. If you listen to the back up band and the style of this song you'll be reminded of the style Ted Leo and The Pharmacists use on their latest album. But when you try to call Ted Leo punk (which he is), a lot of punk purists get all up in arms. You won't have that problem with The Thermals, because the singer can crank it up to a level Ted Leo can't or won't try to. This song has kinda a jangle in the instrumentation, kinda like that type of punk rock you'd rather mosh dance to, than actually mosh with other people.
Last song I'll talk about is "God and Country" and this song is again borriwing from a lot of styles. The background is without a doubt punk, and for the most part the vocal style is punk as well. But at times during the song you could argue it was hard rock instead. Lyrically I'm not going to rave about The Thermals, but on this song the lyrics are kinda interesting. The basic idea is that Butch isn't about all the slack people in America get if they are honest about not believing in God, and features some clever lyrics like "Taking a look-see even if I don't believe, and pray for a new nation." If I would have my way the band would try to push the envelope a bit more lyrically on the next album. This would be a good source of inspiration.
Only a few times a year do I hear a really hard rock or punk album that I would score highly, and like to have in my collection. The last one that did was the latest from My Chemical Romance, and the first album of 2005 to do so is "Fucking A" by The Thermals. I don't get the urge to rock out nearly as much as "The Destroyer" does but when I do my options are limited. It will be nice to be able to add a new album to that equation. I recommend this album to anybody who into punk or hard rock and not just the massively popular mainstream artists at the forefront of those genres. And hey if i'm wrong, it will only last 26 minutes of your life. I think you can spare them.
Songs that you should download: "Our Trip", "How We Know", "A Stare Like Yours", "Let Your Earth Quake Baby", "God & Country"
Score: 7.9
You know how in the olympics if you do a simpler dive and execute to perfection you can still only score so high. Well hopefully you do, because that same theory applies to why the Thermals cap out at 7.9.
- Dan