Thrice - The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV Air & Earth [2008]

Genre: Emo, Post-Hardcore, Folk Rock

MySpace: thrice

My opinion & thought: Once again, great concept album by Thrice, based on the Fire, Water, Air & Earth of the alchemy elements. This is the Air & Earth concept album which feature windy and emotional Air type of music, and down-to-earth kinda folk rock tunes. I personnaly prefer this volume III & IV rather than the previous volume I & II.

Stands out track(s): Broken Lungs, Come All You Weary, Daedalus, Moving Mountains, Digging My Own Grave, The Lion & The Wolf

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 elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. A blog titledThe Alchemy Index chronicled the album's progress for fans.

The album debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200.

The second half of The Alchemy Index was released on April 15, 2008. The first half, The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II: Fire & Water, was released on October 16, 2007.

The band debuted "Come All You Weary" from the Earth disc during the short tour leading up to Bamboozle. Videos of the performance can be found on YouTube. According to the band, this song is the only song from the Earth disc that has a full drum kit or any instrument that isn't acoustic. A version of the song professionally recorded by AOL can be found here.

Clips from the songs "Broken Lungs," "Silver Wings," "Moving Mountains," and "Come All You Weary" were featured in studio videos released by the band before the release of the first half of The Alchemy Index. These videos can be found on YouTube and MySpace, respectively. Additionally, the songs "Broken Lungs" and "Moving Mountains" made their live debut and can be found in a number of YouTube videos. On March 25, the Radio One Rock Show debuted "Daedalus" from the Air disc. "Daedalus" is the second song released by Thrice with lyrics about the legend of Daedalus, the other being "The Melting Point of Wax" from their 2003 album The Artist in the Ambulance. March 28 saw the debut of the studio version of "Broken Lungs" on the band's Myspace page. "The Sky Is Falling" was played on the Radio One Punk Show on April 8.

Both discs leaked on April 9 by release group FNT. Two days later, the band made the entire album available to stream on their MySpace page.

Tracklisting:

Vol III: Air

1. "Broken Lungs" - 4:14
2. "The Sky Is Falling" - 4:21
3. "A Song for Milly Michaelson" - 5:07
4. "Daedalus" - 6:00
5. "As the Crow Flies" - 2:22
6. "Silver Wings" - 2:10

Vol IV: Earth

1. "Moving Mountains" - 2:55
2. "Digging My Own Grave" - 3:04
3. "The Earth Isn't Humming" (Frodus cover) - 4:58
4. "The Lion and the Wolf" - 2:42
5. "Come All You Weary" - 4:08
6. "Child of Dust" - 3:09