Thrice's 'Vheissu,' the Album That Changed It All, Turns 10
Dustin Kensrue was once a grizzly bear; he could murmur and purr, but he was never far from destroying the air with a roar. His band, Thrice, played titanium steel riffs and served up enough breakdowns to get the scene kids two-stepping and the burly straight-edges picking up quarters on the hardcore-dance floor.
That lasted for three albums, culminating in the Irvine, California four-piece's breakout LP, 2003's The Artist in the Ambulance. It was and has stayed a post-hardcore landmark, one that coasted into the lanes of math-metal and, yes, even pop-punk just enough to appeal to a rainbow of fans. Thrice could support an emo act one tour and headline over a hardcore cult band the next. Their palm-muted gallops tickled Slayer bones; their octave power chords sucked in Saves the Day groupies.
October 18, 2005, it all changed. Thrice dropped Vheissu and evolved, not in a gradual, thousands-of-years-from-ape-to-man way, but instantly, like a Pokémon.
20m
3m
1h 36m
20m
41m
21m
8m
6m
20m
20m
41m
41m
2m
20m
4m
2m
1h 7m
20m
20m
20m
20m
20m
20m
20m
20m
9m
14m
20m
22m
1h 24m
20m
20m
20m
20m
7m
2m
3m
4m
46m
20m
22m
21m
20m
45m
22m
42m
46m
1h 21m
3m
2m
22m
24m
21m
41m
20m
20m
23m
41m
3602s
20m
21m
10m
1m
21m
2m
2m
40m
14m
1h 21m
21m
23m
20m
7m
6m
5m
8m
1h 45m
12m
1h 2m
43m
1m
41m
6m
1h 33m
1h 21m
1h 30m
20m
45m
21m
44m
1h 20m
1h 27m
23m
1h 34m
41m
15m
1m