Colors And Numbers And Words

Artist: The Thermals

Album: Now We Can See

Year: 2009

Grade: 3.5 pretzels

The Thermals make punk far too fun. Somehow, they manage to write bitter, acid-spitting songs and then record them like they were the sunniest of pop music. With songs that sound clean and almost always major-key, the Portland, OR, band has quietly recorded three very strong albums since 2003. They even managed to record the Holy Grail of punk rock: a concept album. 2006’s The Body, The Blood, The Machine was centered around some strange narrative about Christian dictatorships in a dystopian future. Even then, the bright power chords kept chugging away. The Thermals are a bit of a strange band.

Now We Can See is neither a step forward nor a step back for them. Rather, it’s exactly what their fans are probably expecting. Strong power pop guitars form the backbone, with a steady rhythm section holding things together. The songs have titles like “When I Died” and “We Were Sick”. Only a few songs exceed an efficient three minutes. There may not be many surprises, but if you’re a Thermals fan, you probably won’t be complaining.

Coming on the tails of an album about religious fascists, Now We Can See does seem a bit less focused. Since all the Thermals’ songs follow the same formula, they tend to blend together without a lofty storyline holding them together. However, there are a few songs that jump out. The shout-along title track sounds like it would be incredibly fun live, while the lengthy “At The Bottom Of The Sea” actually stretches out and relaxes a bit, in the process becoming one of the saddest songs the band has ever recorded. It’s a refreshing new sound from a band that has always seemed dead-set on one style.

It’s difficult to review an album that exactly matches your expectations. Part of the fun of listening to an album is discovering things you didn’t see coming. However, it’s certainly better than releasing a disappointing album. With Now We Can See, I expected a strong batch of punk-pop and that’s what the Thermals delivered. It’ll never be my favorite album and I probably won’t even be listening to it much after this review. But I don’t want to detract from the quality of the album. Although there’s nothing surprising here, this album is a strong and enjoyable slice of sunny punk rock. Is that so bad?