Collegiate Times

After the monumental post-hardcore triumph Thursday had formed with albums "Full Collapse" and "War All the Time," all the subsequent mediocre crop bands found it acceptable to follow.

Nearly a decade under the influence, post-hardcore was sanctioned and fashioned for a second coming with acts such as Glassjaw and At the Drive-In.

It seemed that Thursday would never make a bad record, but as we turned into a new era of music, their 2006 release, "A City by the Light Divided," was clearly a multifarious experimental departure from anything we had ever heard before. Perhaps it was to appeal to the levelheaded or it was what they wanted us to hear. Either way, it was clear there was very little middle ground reception. Singer Geoff Rickly's extensive health problems had the band fatigued, and even worse, disenchanted.

Its fifth and latest release, "Common Existence," revisits Thursday's signature sound. In stores this week, "Common Existence" is Thursday's first release on Epitaph Records.

"It's a great feeling to have a label encourage you to be more socially conscious and politically active," Rickly said.

But the recycling of producer Dave Fridmann, who created their previous record, had many fans suspicious.

When the Jersey natives revisit their home turf, their primary goal is to keep away the being ordinary. For the most part, "Common Existence" instills a sense of urgency and holds hints of ethereal echoes of yesterday's powerlessness. Still, they haven't lost any touch of intricate guitar, eloquent song structure or their ability to hypnotize.

"Common Existence" opens with "Resuscitation of a Dead Man" and shows that the band isn't going to hesitate to pull the trigger. The first track features Tim McIlwraith of Rise Against and sets the tone for the rest of the album.

"We could be the heartbeat of everything nine-tenths collapsed come back to life, we could be the breath of air just get to the lungs of the dying, can you feel a pulse -- it's been stopped for so long. Can you start it? Can you feel a pulse? It's been stopped for so long, let's restart it with a gentle hand, with a thousand voices, with a single word," Rickly assures.

They take no prisoners. The song is about a personal experience Rickly had with a soldier serving in Iraq.

It was inspired by conversations with their family members and is about a shift of perspective when it comes to wrong and right. Conveniently, the lyrics provide a reasonable context of Thursday's current dilemma.

Can they start their pulse?

One of the strongest tracks on the record, "Time's Arrow," is an expressive and experimental asterisk in comparison to the rest of the record. A simple acoustic melody shifts into a Circa Survive/Muse type of multi-colored, psychotropic flow. This song sets itself apart and easily stands as a portal to a new sound. I suppose post-hardcore and ambient music is terrain yet to be entirely conquered.

"Doctor comes off the street, stitch gets pulled out audibly, mothers fall down in their seat, I can see time's arrow turning back to me, children getting light disappear into a sign, we'll rise like snowflakes in the sky tonight," Rickly sings.

Old-school Thursday fans as well as newcomers can appreciate "Common Existence" . The band's musical creativity has expanded into a surprisingly coherent facet. Its latest release is proof that the label's advice has channeled into its tunes -- in a complex and condemning fashion, of course. It seems now Thursday has looked past its faults and its comeback is bigger than ever. Buried by an aura of ambient guitar spectrums and screams, "Common Existence" visibly continues the development of post-hardcore and gives the old timers a sigh of relief. Those who wrote Thursday off may be coming back for a permanent second helping.