The Body, The Blood, The Machine
Sub Pop
2006
Rating: 7 empty hands out of 10
On their third record, the Portland-based punk rockers The Thermals decided to slow down the music, clean up the fuzz, and increase the politics. Normally, this combination of changes would be enough turn me off of a band, but here…it works, and works extremely well. Where their previous two efforts were a full-tempo onslaught from beginning to end, on “The Body…” the pace varies wildly from one track to the next, and many of the songs are more pop than punk. It’s somewhat reminiscent to the transformation that happened to Bad Religion when they released “Generator”, only the Thermals appear to be heading in a much better direction as opposed to the sucking that Bad Religion decided to try on. Some folks may find Hutch Harris’ nasally vocals grating, but to me it just sounds like what you would get if John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats decided to form a punk band (an idea I could really get behind). It’s also worth noting that this band puts on a blistering, terrific live show that is not to be missed.
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