Thrice-The Alchemy Index Volumes I & II: Fire and Water

I'm a pretty big Thrice fan. The build up to this record, or rather string of EPs released as two separate index volumes, was quite large. My friends and I have had huge debates as to whether or not this index volume was worth all that buid up. I definitely feel that it was.

Let's start with Fire. Fire is the heavy record out of the 4 volumes, and deals with things surrounding a fire theme. It is chock full of dark, chunky riffs, drop-tuned guitars, screaming vocals and heavy-ass melodies. "Firebreather" has a riff in 11/4. Odd-time riffs are a huge part of Thrice, and I feel it's one of their best. The outro of it is quite epic, much like something off of their last record, Vheissu. "The Messenger" starts off with a strange sounding piece of drum production, and then turns into an anthemic headbanger. "Backdraft" is the most unique song on Fire, with acoustic guitar and drum verses complete with vocals that are very evil sounding and a driving chorus. "The Arsonist" is probably the strongest song on this one. It kicks your ass from the get-go, and hardly relents from then on out. The outro is absolutely amazing in both its anthemic quality and in its brutality. "Burn the Fleet" is actually quite a gorgeous heavy song. It sounds like something that definitely could've been on Vheissu as well. "The Flame Deluge" is a piece of brutality that makes you want to go out and destroy things. It's that brutal. And then it ends with a gorgeously harmonized vocal piece to set things up for Water.

Water is definitely the record I like better. It is very ambient, spacey, beautiful, moody, dark, progressive as hell, unique, and incredibly interesting. It's actually a more simplistic record, with amazing results. "Digital Sea" is a crazy mix of a keyboard riff, an overdriven drum loop, and reverby vocals. It's quite a wonderful result. "Open Water" is very quiet and ambient in its verses, with a gorgeously lush chorus that is epic as hell. "Lost Continent" is beautifully simplistic and super epic. "Night Diving" is an instrumental, and it is the best thing on here. It is beautiful, heavy, dark, moody, and ambient all at once. I never want it to end when I hear it. "The Whaler" has another beautiful Rhodes keyboard riff. This song is almost hypnotic in its ambiance. I love it. It's absolutely wonderful. It actually almost sounds like the water levels in Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. It ends with the most beautifully layered harmonized vocal part ever. "Kings Upon the Main" is quiet with a pushing, marching sort of feel to it, with a piano that sounds like it's on it's last legs. It then ends with a slow to fade tag line much like at the end of Fire.

Overall, I think it's a strong result from Thrice. I anxiously await the next index with Air and Earth. I give it a 9 out of 10.