Common Existence

Thursday gets away with being so gloomy by keeping the energy level sky-high and the sonic assault dense, making Common Existence more thrilling than seething.

Common Existence cements Thursday as not only the forefathers of the scene, but also the reigning kings. [Mar 2009, p.102]

In the grand scheme of things, I’m taken aback on how Thursday can still manage to spark my interest with each new album. Just when Thursday seems to stir in unfamiliar, unwanted territory, they manage to find a way to make it happen.

Post-hardcore pioneers Thursday have responded to the end of their major-label adventure by producing their most consistent body of work to date. [Mar 2009, p.93]

This album will be divisive amongst fans as there will be those who just want them to get back to the days of "Full Collapse" and those who have always heard the sounds of Common Existence beneath the surface over everything before it. For those fans, you will be glad Thursday has finally let all of its aggression out to release an engrossing and explosive album.

Common Existence is the band’s densest, most accomplished album to date, with sonic layers and the complexity of a big-budget record, without the bloat.

It may not receive the attention its predecessors did, from me at least, but it's an impressive return to form; that in and of itself is worthwhile.

In places, the album is tremendously affecting, but it's also the first time a Thursday release is not an unambiguous improvement on its predecessor.

Rather than straining for pop sophistication, Fridmann simply brightens and focuses the band's darker, more obtuse corners.

Common Existence is a worthy addition to Thursday’s canon.

Generally, though, its makers can count Common Existence a triumph.

Common Existence is long on complicated instrumental textures and twisty-turny song structures yet woefully short on the fist-pumping melodies that keep this kind of stuff from sounding like musical math.

Thursday's Epitaph debut melds the band's hardcore influences with shoegaze and atmospheric elements, with mixed results.

Album No. 5--their first for indie stalwart Epitaph--amps up the band’s aggro guitars, cookie-monster yells and proggy ambition.

Common Existence is the least pungent and immediate Thursday album since its debut. In places it sounds like an experiment, sometimes a successful one.

Common Existence makes Thursday sound like a band that has settled in their skin without lazily settling on a sound.

Unfortunately, the tunes aren't so hot, and Common Existence veers between overbearing and pretty ordinary.