The Thermals - Now We Can See
My Thoughts: Love (<)

I got into the Thermals because of their song A Stare Like Yours. What solidified my love was their mad mad mad song Pillar of Salt. My story is not an uncommon one. Occasionally, with that story, you can replace that first song with another song off of their album Fuckin A, or just say it all started with Pillar of Salt, and you've pretty much covered a large portion of Thermals fans. My theory on this is because their songs, in true punk fashion, stick to a similar formula of heavy fuzz bass, simple but driving drum beats, and perfectly distorted rhythm guitar, occasionally adding some over-dubbed lead guitar riffs which, in most cases, happen to be the things that draw you into the song. Their songs are so heavily stylized that it's hard to even notice that it is stylized at all, because they're not going for a cliche or obvious style or formula. What I mean is they've tweaked the general indie punk sound into their own thing, making it so the thing that they're trying so hard to sound like is, simply, the Thermals.

That's a roundabout way of saying that their songs all kind of sound the same. And I would have just said that, but saying just that is cheapening, and the point is that every song by them is a single, a pattern that has been present since their early releases. This makes the Thermals more of a band experience, as opposed to a song or album experience. I almost feel redundant in saying that this album is great, because it seems so obvious that this would be the case. The Thermals are one of the most reliable rock bands out there. Of course this album freaking rocks.

I saw them a couple years ago with my buddy JJ, and I can safely say that, save for My Bloody Valentine, they're the loudest show in town. I a little afraid for their set at Monolith, but damn you know I'll be as close as I can get for it

The Thermals - I Called Your Name
The Thermals - I Let It Go
The Thermals - At The Bottom of the Sea