Dan Sanford, Contributing Writer

After a five-year long hiatus, the hype was on. Thrice had returned with their first album in nearly five years, and they were better than ever. Their ninth studio album, “To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere,” was released on May 25, 2016, to excellent reviews. The band had mixed a more experimental, ethereal sound, as well as a solid, grinding heavy metal sound and at times occupied a middle-ground between the two, resembling grunge, all over clean-yet-angsty vocals to create something that both rock radio and Thrice’s classic fans could love.

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Not to mention that the songs’ subject matter and lyrics remained thoughtful and resulted in well-crafted songs, like the Snowden-themed “Whistleblower” and the anti-war number “Death from Above” touching upon drone strikes. Whether it you were on the “team punk rock Thrice” or “team alternative rock Thrice” side of the fanbase, most all of them could agree that the album was easily one of the best rock records that year.

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However, what of their next effort two years later?

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Thrice released the follow-up to “To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere” on September 14, titled “Palms”. The first single, “The Grey”, displayed a much more direct musical attack than the mellow, reverberating riffs of what could be found on some of their previous album’s material (a la “Black Honey”). A few prog-like rhythms hearkening to the band’s “Alchemy Index” era can be heard in certain parts of the song, and it still sounds fairly heavy, but the instrumental component still oddly resembles Australian hard rock from the 2000s (Jet and Wolfmother come to mind). As one reviewer at Allmusic put it, it sounds as if it were influenced by No Knife, Beach House, Fugazi, and Radiohead, “yet ends up sounding like Dave Grohl fronting Shinedown or Royal Blood.” In that review’s context, this was criticism; I think that the statement was not only accurate, but a good thing as well (so long as the comparison-example never actually comes to fruition).

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The biggest surprise, however, was that their lyrics have much less depth than what they previously had. They had gone from worldwide relatable topics that began in America to more introspective, deep self-thought: “Palms” is introspective. "A Branch in the River" and "Hold Up a Light" are also great examples of this heavier display on the album.

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The second single, “Only Us,” is obvious proof by the title alone that introspective thought is the name of the lyrical game on this one. That’s not the only odd thing about this one, though. Thrice begins “Only Us” with synthesizers and keyboards, and it’s entirely an electronica number until they finish the first chorus a minute in. The guitar is heavily subdued, but it’s there for a little bit. It’s one of several less aggressive and more bassy, brooding songs on the album.

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Finally, there are songs like “Just Breathe,” which have a rock and roll drive to it, but the lyrical power doesn’t take much prowess: sure, it’s really relatable in offering us “it’s like a piece is missing, and I can’t place it” in that it perfectly describes the song. It has every reason to be album filler and fall flat, but it somehow remains likable.

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So now, we can easily say “Palms” has some stark differences to its predecessor. The lyrics game has changed entirely, its sound as a whole is much less aggressive. It’s certainly not as good as what was offered to us two years ago. But to call is a travesty is beyond a mistake. It’s not bad music from Thrice by any means. The vocal game is still about as strong as you would expect it to be based on the last effort. It just doesn’t pack as much punch, and that is admittedly slightly disappointing.