If you like your rock music hard, in-your-face and no-holds-barred, then you MUST pick up the just released double-disk Anthology by the Orange County based band THRICE. Typically live albums never seem to capture the best of a band or may seem to be over edited, overdubbed or are full of fixes but not this blazing release. As drummer Riley Breckenridge put it, “This is a live record that is truly live. There are no overdubs, no edits and no pitch corrections. We wanted this to be an honest and accurate representation of a show from our Farewell Tour and a memento for our fans.” That’s exactly what the band accomplished with this exceptional album.

If you’re not a fan now you will be after one listen. This release slaughters your senses then leaves you wanting more. What is unique about Anthology is that the fans chose the songs on this live double disk through online voting. Though this is not their first multi-album release (they released The Alchemy Index in 2007/2008 which was a quadruple album release) this is their only live release. You really get a good sense of who this band is from this album since the songs give a well-rounded representation of the their impressive discography spanning throughout a ten year recording career.

Anthology starts out with heavy hitters like “Yellow Belly” and “Image of the Invisible” which sounds like an anthem that disgruntled invisible youth everywhere are sure to connect with. There are so many heavy tunes and standouts on this release such as: ”The Artist in the Ambulance”, “Under a Killing Moon”, “Silhouette”, ”To Awake and Avenge the Dead” amongst numerous others. With Anthology there is no filler, just 24 killer tracks that will leave you banging your head over and over again.

After 13+ years together, and with eight solid full-length releases to show for it, THRICE decided to take a touring hiatus last Fall, and hopefully they will come back out in 2013. In the meantime, this should absolutely suffice in satisfying fan appetites. Anthology is available on two CDs, and as a limited edition box set containing four LP’s. The LP box set is limited to just 3,000 stamped and numbered pieces and includes a 24-page booklet along with two black/two white LP’s - all on 180 gram vinyl. It doesn’t get much cooler than that.

You can listen to Anthology on Rdio here: http://rd.io/x/QVB4kSJBFS4 - then buy it!

Jaxx Spondivitz, RockRevolt™Magazine