Thursday: A City By The Light Divided : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Thursday made one of the more inspired emo albums of 2003, War All the Time, before imploding from medical problems and internal conflicts. Newly reunited and expanded with keyboardist Andrew Everding, the New Jersey sextet chose not to capitalize on its commercial success and instead teamed with Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann for a risky disc that credits a vocal coach and nearly buries the results in fuzzy guitars and bombastic bass. Geoff Rickly sings more and screams less, and on "The Lovesong Writer" he takes on opportunistic imitators as the distortion climaxes to pulsating extremes. But aside from Fridmann's studio expertise, there's little here that elevates Thursday above the followers they disdain: Rickly apes the vocal aches and existential sorrows of the Cure without their satisfying hooks or melodies. Instead, bad poetry abounds: "We Will Overcome" paraphrases the anti-racism classic "Strange Fruit" but dissolves its impact with rote sloganeering. This Thursday may make you long for Friday.