The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II

Infobox Album | Name = The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II
Type = studio
Artist = Thrice

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Released = flagicon|UK October 15 2007
flagicon|US October 16 2007
Recorded = October 2006 - March 2007
Genre = Art rock, alternative rock, post-hardcore,post punk
Length = Fire: 22:09
Water: 27:05
"Total": 49:14
Label = Vagrant
Producer = Thrice
Reviews =
* AbsolutePunk.net (93%) [http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=272399 link]
* Daily Dischord Rating|2|5 [http://www.dailydischord.com/single.php?id=2436 link]
*"Alternative Press" Rating|4|5 [http://www.flickr.com/photos/alchemyindex/1448617811/ 2007]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/16700078/review/16720498/the_alchemy_index_vols_i_and_ii_fire_and_water 2007]
*"Sputnikmusic" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=13824 2007]
*"The Album Project" Rating|4|5 [http://albumproject.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/full-review-thrice-the-alchemy-index-vols-1-2/ 2007]
*"Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:d9fpxzqhldae link] "
*Time Off Rating|4|5 [http://www.timeoff.com.au/index.php?area=Archive&pg=42&subarea=37&sel=7908&showcontent=7908 link]
*"Feel The Word" (favourable) [http://www.feeltheword.net/magazine/2007/12/02/thrice-alchemy-index-vols-i-and-ii-2007-david-whitesell/]
*"Billboard" Album Review [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/albums/e3if4ef26bbb490c2c5093042203ae7f606 2007]
Last album = "Red Sky (EP)"
(2006)
This album = "The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II"
(2007)
Next album = "Come All You Weary"
(2008)|

"The Alchemy Index" is Thrice's fifth studio recording, a four-disc concept album that was split between two releases, the first in October 2007 and the second in April 2008. The band originally planned to release four discs at once, each disc with six tracks representing one of the four classical elements: "Fire", "Water", "Earth", and "Air". The album was recorded from late 2006 to early 2007, and a blog titled [http://www.alchemyindex.com The Alchemy Index] chronicled the album's progress for fans.

Recording

Early in the development of the project, Dustin Kensrue posted the following update on the band's studio journal site:

"We sat down a couple weeks ago and made a rough timeline so that we wouldn’t find ourselves putting this out next winter instead of late spring/early summer. The plan is to record at least 75% of each disc at a time, and then have time to come back and re-evaluate, start mixing, and tie up any loose ends. Right now we have done a large amount of the Air disc and have just started up on Earth, which we’ve given ourselves only to the end of next week since we want it to have a pretty stripped down vibe and we don’t want to have time to over- think it. We moved the recording gear into an empty living room with hardwood floors and are recording the whole earth disc in here which is sounding very cool."

During the recording of the album, the band left Island Records, citing a difference in vision for the band's direction. [ [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=247621 "Thrice and Island Records part ways"] . Absolutepunk.net. June 2007.] On August 9, 2007, the band announced they had signed to Vagrant Records. [ [http://www.punknews.org/article/25015 "Thrice joins Vagrant Records"] . Punknews.org. August 2007.]

The band debuted a new track from the 'Fire' album and from the 'Earth' album during the mini-tour leading up to 2007 Bamboozle music festival. The titles of the tracks were later revealed as "Firebreather" and "Come All You Weary" respectively.

Release

The album was released in the United States on October 16, 2007, and sold 28,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at #24 on the Billboard 200 chart [Katie Hasty, [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003662234 "Springsteen Returns To No. 1 In Slow Sales Week"] , Billboard.com, October 24, 2007.] and #5 on the iTunes top-selling albums. [cite web |url = http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10albums.html |title = iTunes Store Top 10 Albums |accessdate= 2007-10-19 |publisher = iTunes.com]

Track listing

Vol I: Fire

#"Firebreather" - 4:24
#"The Messenger" - 2:09
#"Backdraft" - 4:08
#"The Arsonist" - 4:13
#"Burn the Fleet" - 3:46
#"The Flame Deluge" - 3:27

Vol II: Water

#"Digital Sea" - 3:44
#"Open Water" - 3:46
#"Lost Continent" - 4:30
#"Night Diving [Instrumental] " - 6:02
#"The Whaler" - 4:09
#"Kings Upon the Main" - 4:56

Personnel

* Dustin Kensrue - lead vocals, guitar
* Teppei Teranishi - guitar, keyboards, vocals
* Eddie Breckenridge - bass, vocals
* Riley Breckenridge - drums

References

External links

* [http://www.alchemyindex.com Alchemy Index] - Thrice's studio blog documenting the recording process of the album.