Thrice

Thrice built one of its most ambitious records around the classical elements. Released across 2007 and 2008, The Alchemy Index was a 24-song cycle split into four six-song EPs, each aligned with fire, water, air or earth in both its music and lyrics. The project followed a sharp shift in the Irvine, California band's sound, from the tightly wound melodic hardcore of its early work toward arrangements that made room for electronics, keyboards and quieter textures.

Formed in 1998, Thrice was started while guitarist and vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi were still in high school. The lineup also includes bassist Eddie Breckenridge and drummer Riley Breckenridge. Early releases centered on heavily distorted guitars, prominent lead lines and complex, frequently changing time signatures. That approach is heard on the group's second album, The Illusion of Safety (2002), and its third, The Artist in the Ambulance (2003).

The 2005 album Vheissu expanded the band's palette with electronic beats and keyboards, setting up the broader stylistic range of The Alchemy Index. Thrice followed with Beggars, released August 11, 2009, and Major/Minor, released September 20, 2011. Those later records brought together elements of the band's earlier heaviness and its more exploratory writing.

In 2011, Thrice announced a final tour and an impending hiatus. Kensrue and Teranishi chose to reform the group in 2015 after attending a Brand New concert. Thrice returned in 2016 with To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere, its first album after the reunion. The band released its tenth album, Palms, in 2018, followed by its eleventh studio album, Horizons/East, in September 2021. A portion of sales proceeds from every Thrice album has been donated to a different charitable organization.