Books Movies & Music / Music CDs / Thursday A City by the Light Divided

If you've listened to Waiting, Full Collapse, and War All the Time, you might be surprised with their newer album A City by the Light Divided. Their style is totally different. For some, this might be disappointing, for others, they consider it as Thursday maturing into something more.

What changed?

First, Thursday lost much of their aggressive sound from Full Collapse and War All the Time. If you trace carefully the types of songs they made back from their first album, Waiting, you'll see that in Waiting, they were still growing into a greater band. Full Collapse expressed that greatness. And in War All the Time, they took one step further, retaining their aggression yet increasing in the depth of their lyrics. A City by the Light Divided is for me, the time of a lot of realizations for Thursday. Their sound is atmospheric, almost hypnotic, the type where you could close your eyes and fall asleep in its seeming softness.

The album title in itself has depth: "A City by the Light Divided". For me, this reflects the current status of the world and of society. We are divided by what, Religion? Our "enlightened" beliefs?  Their songs also have gone deeper in message, and have gone on more mature topics.

I prefer the sound of Full Collapse and War All the Time, but I also enjoy the lyrics of A City by the Light Divided. From this album, I particularly like Running from the Rain (it gives me goosebumps! in a good way.) and Autumn Leaves Revisited.

I recommend you buy Full Collapse and War All the Time and listen to them first. A City by the Light Divided may not be as catchy as these two previous albums. You'll be better able to appreciate the beauty of this album if you've listened to their previous ones.