Major/Minor

Audio Mixer: Dave Schiffman.Recording information: New Grass Studios; Red Bull Studio, Los Angeles, CA.California alt-rockers Thrice's seventh album furthers the stripped-down, bluesy sound of its predecessor, Beggars, while also embracing the more aggressive and commercial sound established on 2005's Vheissu. Opener "Yellow Belly" kicks Major/Minor off as if it means to continue with a thick rock riff in the Tom Morello vein while Dustin Kensrue directs his anger at what is presumed to be a domestic abuser: "You're less than half a man, yellow belly and crimson hands." Kensrue's religious faith is prominent in his lyrics, having been somewhat played down on recent albums, and tracks like "Treading Paper" and "Listen Through Me" find him at his most inspired, lyrically and vocally. On the former, he cries: "If anything means anything, there must be something meant for us to be, a song we're made to sing/There must be so much more than we can see." For a group noted as innovators, the s