I talked about The Thermals earlier this month, reviewing “Pillar of Salt,” the lead single from their new record The Body, The Blood, The Machine. Now that I’ve heard the whole thing I wanted to recommend even more strongly that you get yourself a copy. I’m not positive it’s my favorite Thermals album, but I am positive it’s their best. While my heart may always reside with the lo-fi crackles and raucous noise of More Parts Per Million, this album is more ambitious and more fully realized than anything else they’ve done.
After a few listens, I still think the best song is “Pillar of Salt,” which I talked about in a lot more detail in that previous post. Still, there isn’t a bad song and a number of other killer ones.
The frantic the-music-can’t-possibly-go-fast-enough feel of their past work has been replaced with a bit more nuance. They still let loose in a few places but also experiment with a number of different tones and paces. There is the grungy “I Might Need to Kill You,” the crushing “Returning to the Fold,” the pop-tinged “An Ear for a Baby,” and the bittersweet “Test Pattern,” to name a few.
One major highlight is “Power Doesn’t Run on Nothing,” which is as damaging as anything they’ve ever done. But if “No Culture Icons” is a stick of dynomite, this song is the rising tide as it bursts the dikes and washes over you. The first is more explosive but the second is implacable and ultimately more overwhelming. A study of modern fascism: exploitative, wreaking havoc, and using up resources (the environment, its citizens, the planet itself) as fast as it can. It also features some of their best lyrics: “our power doesn’t run on nothing / it runs on blood / and blood is easy to obtain / when you have no shame.”
This song (and the album as a whole) is profoundly pessimistic. The convergence of fascism and religion is a terrifying one, and it makes for a great (almost) concept album about Manifest Destiny, escape, blood, capitalism, and destruction. Anyone can kill and destroy, but when it is done in the name of God, it becomes an imperative. No real answers are provided, apart from a note on the back of the booklet: “Now’s the time. Take a powder. Skip the country. Run away.”
But ultimately, providing answers isn’t really the point. This is a punk band, not SDS. I’m not sure they’re that interested in laying out a progressive agenda–their job is to be pissed off and make songs about it. And they do a mighty fine job of it.
Taking things in a different direction is the aforementioned “Test Pattern,” which is almost pretty. No, scratch that, it’s definitely pretty, partly because it doesn’t go over-the-top maudlin, but retains just enough of the patented Thermals snottiness to sound completely without affect. A breakup song in the middle of an album about fascism, blood, death, and destruction? Sure, and it works perfectly.
If there is any weakness in the record, it’s that the slower pace occasionally feels plodding. I know it’s a little absurd, but there are times (on “Back to the Sea” for example) when it feels closer to prog than anything else. Which isn’t necessarily bad, but I can’t help but think that one or two under-two-minute pure punk assaults could have jolted me back to reality when it was needed. Still, this is a very minor complaint about an album which for the most part delivers on its promise and displays a band at the height of their creativity, making an album that deserves to be heard.
MP3s:
Pillar of Salt
No Culture Icons (from More Parts Per Million)