War All the Time (Thursday album)

In 2001, Thursday signed to independent label Victory Records. After signing, the band received warnings from their friends that they would find themselves in "a situation that we would regret." the group visited Victory's offices and learned about Thursday-branded whoopee cushions that the label was planning to sell at the tour. Vocalist Geoff Rickly discussed this matter with Victory founder Tony Brummel, and according to the band, responded that Victory "was a big company and that they didn't have time to run everything by the band." The band were perplexed when the label suggested releasing singles and making music videos, as they felt hardcore bands did not need to do singles and believed they would not appear on radio. Also during this period, Brummel became more positive in his interactions, frequently calling the band "just to say hello, or to ask how record sales at shows were going." In late May 2002, the group announced they had signed to Island Records, following a bidding war between other major labels. Victory tried to get the band to sign to a different major label in a deal that would have enabled Victory to serve as a sub-label for them. On September 9, the group's signing to Island Records was made official following negotiations of an exit agreement with Victory Records. The agreement required parent company Island/Def Jam to buy out Victory's contract claim for the group's next two albums. Rickly said as a result of the deal, Victory Records received $1,200,000, which meant the band would be "[paying off] that bill for as long as we were on the new label." In addition, their next two albums were required to feature the Victory logo. With expectation building for their follow-up album, Rickly wanted their next album to be "really aggressive and progressive ... and have all these boundary pushing ideas". and were planning to work on their next album following its conclusion. They said they had accumulated a lot of ideas but were unable to work on them due to touring. Up to now, the members had made notes on their laptops and made Pro Tools set-ups in the back of their touring buses to record ideas they had accumulated. While the band did have writer's block, they worked through it as they were short on time. ==Production==

In January 2003, Kludge reported that Thursday were in the process of recording their next album, which was expected for release in summer or fall. Recording took place at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studios in Jersey City, New Jersey While this was occurring, the group was writing new material. Rickly said three of these new songs would not have been tracked had they not had the time, specifically mentioning "Division St." and "Signals Over the Air". which was Longview Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Rickly said that after recording was completed, the rest of the band wrote three more songs, which they "liked even better". The recordings were mixed by Rumblefish with assistance from Coady Brown, and then mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering in Portland Maine. Everding played keyboards on "Division St.", "Marches and Maneuvers", "Asleep in the Chapel", "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", "Steps Ascending", "M. Shepard" and "Tomorrow I'll Be You". Tim Gilles played keyboards on "Between Rupture and Rapture" and "Signals Over the Air". Gretta Cohn of Cursive and Jonah Matranga of Onelinedrawing appeared on "Steps Ascending", providing cello and vocals respectively. Arun Venkatesh performed programming on "M. Shepard". Keri Levens, Marc Meltser and Dave Ciancio provided vocals on "War All the Time". ==Composition==

Overview All of the music was written by Thursday except for "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", which was co-written between Everding and the band. All of the lyrics were written by Geoff Rickly. Guitarist Steve Pedulla said they expanded further on ideas from Full Collapse, in addition to channelling the music they were listening to. He explained that what someone listens to can influence their playing, and despite the group listening to "a lot of mellower stuff", the music came out "a lot heavier". He added that he had been "afraid to talk about the idea of romantic love in songs because I feel like it's such a cliché". Rickly got the notion of tackling romance from writer Charles Bukowski, He said it soon became a substantial part of his life, and he "felt like I was stifling myself by not writing about it." Songs Rickly compared "For the Workforce, Drowning" to a "super heavy" Fugazi. The music for the song was influenced by Sigur Rós. When Rickly showed the song to the rest of the group, they were only partially interested in it. After they saw Sigur Rós at a concert, they "decided to bring in some of their noisy qualities into our music", according to Rickly. Referring to the title-track, Rickly said they had the phrase War All the Time as the album title first before it appeared in the song. He said that it wasn't the first title they had in mind, but soon realized that the song "really is the center of the record." "Tomorrow I'll Be You" was originally going to be the opening track as the group adored the song. However, they soon realized that it "didn't seem right to have this redeeming, beautiful" track began an album that had a "lot of ugliness and darkness in it." It initially started out as an ending to "Jet Black New Year", as it was a "redemption for that song in a lot of ways." ==Release==

, July 31, 2004 Keeley said that upon showing their label the album, he was unsure how they would react to it. He said that "for the most part it was a very positive" reaction. On April 28, "For the Workforce, Drowning" was released as a single; around this, the band performed at Skate and Surf Fest. In June and July, the group toured the US alongside Rival Schools, This Day Forward, Murder by Death and Every Time I Die. In addition, they performed at the Field Day and Hellfest festivals. "For the Workforce, Drowning" was released on a split 7-inch vinyl record with "Under a Killing Moon" by Thrice on July 1. Following this, the band took a two-week break, their first since November 2002, and then spent the next four weeks rehearsing. Having the song as a single, Rickly said he "like[d] the idea of a song about the exploitation of sexuality being on major media outlets like radio and television." The music video for the track, released on August 28, was directed by Joakim Åhlund. Initially announced for release on August 19, It was previously made available for streaming nine days prior to release. The UK version of the album was released through Mercury Records. The Japanese version included a cover of Sigur Rós' "Ný batterí" (2000) as a bonus track. Bassist Tim Payne said they were listening to that band's Ágætis byrjun (1999) album when he suggested Thursday should cover one of their songs. Later in September, the group went on a brief tour of North America In October, the group went on a UK tour with Coheed and Cambria and Further Seems Forever. In October and November, the group went on a tour of North America with Thrice and Coheed and Cambria. Following this, the group toured with Deftones until early December. Following this, the group supported AFI on their North American tour in February and March, and played a handful of shows with the Bronx, Head Automatica, and Piebald. A tour with Poison the Well, Engine Down, and Spitalfield started in April, which lead into an appearance on the main stage at the Warped Tour. They supported the Cure on their US tour in July and August 2004, and appeared at Strhessfest. ==Reception==

Critical response Critics gave the album a varied response. AllMusic reviewer Johnny Loftus wrote that the record "rocks on the dynamics between singing and screaming, between rage unleashed and thoughts cast inward." She mentioned that the tracks were "more like emotional earthquakes than songs, making an album for today's youth looking to art for salvation and survival." He also said the group's "only saving grace" was "their vocalist 'sounds-a-bit-like-the-guy-from-The-Cure'." IGN's Jesse Lord said it was a "really good CD that verges on being great", however, "there are simply too many songs that sound alike." Kludge magazine reflected positively on War All the Time, with reviewer Adam Newman stating "The CD is truly commanding as its abrupt and urgent conclusions are as nicely inserted as the dramatic ups and downs of the chorus." Newman chose "Division St." and "Signals Over the Air" as highlights from the album. Punknews.org founder Aubin Paul wrote that a "leap in songwriting prowess is apparent" in a number of tracks where "things are more toned down, but the dynamic range is clearly larger." Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "dud". In the UK, it charted at number 62. and 355,000 copies by mid-2006. As of April 2007, it had sold 364,000 copies. "Signals Over the Air" charted at number 30 on the Alternative Songs chart in the US, and at number 62 in the UK. while Exclaim! ranked it at number two on their Best Punk Album of the year list behind Scandinavian Leather by Turbonegro. In a retrospective review for Sputnikmusic in 2008, staff member Davey Boy said it was "rather inconsistent, but gets by on its highlights and its ability to grow on the listener over time" and in "an attempt at crossover appeal, this release is only partially successful." In 2014, Rickly was asked to rank the band's albums and discuss his thoughts on them. He listed War All the Time at number four, saying that he hated the album upon release. He then added, "In retrospect I think that's a mistake. I think it’s a really cool record". From April 2018 to December 2019, the group performed a run of two-night shows where they played Full Collapse on the first night, and War All the Time on the other, in their entirety. ==Track listing==

All music written by Thursday except "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", which was written by Andrew Everding and Thursday. All lyrics written by Geoff Rickly. • "For the Workforce, Drowning" – 3:16 • "Between Rupture and Rapture" – 3:03 • "Division St." – 4:14 • "Signals Over the Air" – 4:10 • "Marches and Maneuvers" – 4:27 • "Asleep in the Chapel" – 3:46 • "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb" – 2:16 • "Steps Ascending" – 4:26 • "War All the Time" – 4:33 • "M. Shepard" – 3:36 • "Tomorrow I'll Be You" – 4:07 Japanese bonus track • "Ný batterí" (Sigur Rós cover) – 6:34 ==Personnel==

Personnel per booklet. Thursday • Geoff Rickly – lead vocals • Tucker Rule – drums, backing vocals • Tom Keeley – lead guitar, backing vocals • Tim Payne – bass, backing vocals • Steve Pedulla – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Additional musicians • Andrew Everding – keyboards (tracks 3, 5–8, 10 and 11) • Tim Giles – keyboards (tracks 2 and 4) • Gretta Cohn – cello (track 8) • Jonah Matranga – vocals (track 8) • Keri Levens – vocals (track 9) • Arun Venkatesh – programming (track 10) • Marc Meltser – backing vocals (track 9) • Dave Ciancio – backing vocals (track 9) Production • Sal Villanueva – producer, engineer • Rumblefish – mixing • Coady Brown – assistant • Joe Pedulla – engineering • Arun Venkatesh – engineering • Erin Farley – engineering • Lee Zappas – assistant • Mike LaPierre – assistant • Bob Ludwig – mastering • Morning Breath Inc. – art direction, illustration, design • Ken Schles – photography ==Charts==