Steadfast and straightforward creative conviction has guided Thrice since they emerged in the late '90s with a sound that combined hardcore grit and progressive ambition, establishing themselves as pioneers among their post-hardcore peers. From the underground punk scene to major labels and influential indie labels, with a rich catalog of intense, meaningful, and emotionally driven albums, Thrice is a singular entity that gains more significance with each new release among their fans. Dustin Kensrue (vocals/guitar), Teppei Teranishi (guitar), Eddie Breckenridge (bass), and Riley Breckenridge (drums) consistently evolve in sound and substance. From their earliest releases to the bold exploration over more than 20 years of material, Thrice built a reputation as a band for musicians and songwriters, and a group with consistent integrity willing to take artistic and commercial risks. Palms (2018), their first album for Epitaph, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Indie and Hard Rock charts. And they’ve never lost their connection to their diverse audience, which is best understood beyond the Billboard charts and massive streams, through personal impact and a relationship forged through years. “It’s always amazing when people say the music got them through something difficult, or became the soundtrack to pivotal moment in their lives,” notes Kensrue. The double-decade anniversaries of The Illusion of Safety (2002) and The Artist in the Ambulance (2003) inevitably fed the energy and creative self-assurance that resulted in Horizons/West. Horizons/West, their 2025 full-length studio album, arrives as a companion to 2021’s Horizons/East. It continues the themes and sonic ambitions of its predecessor while standing entirely on its own. The album finds Thrice further exploring and incorporating immersive atmospheres, cinematic guitar tones, and expansive dynamics without sacrificing the sense of urgency that propelled their classics. Songs build and bloom like flickering signals in the dark—equal parts introspection and confrontation. In 2025, Thrice reaffirms its legacy while continuing to push forward. “We’ve always just followed our curiosity, wherever it leads,” Kensrue says. “We want to keep growing, exploring, and making something that feels honest to who we are right now.”
It’s been six years since La Dispute released their last album, Panorama. Since then, the Michigan post-hardcore band—made up of Jordan Dreyer on vocals, Brad Vander Lugt on drums, Chad Morgan-Sterenberg and Corey Stroffolino on guitar, and Adam Vass on bass—dealt with the stagnance of the pandemic, celebrated the ten-year anniversaries of Wildlife and Rooms Of The House, and began working on No One Was Driving The Car. The fifth studio LP is the first entirely produced by the group, and it came together in Grand Rapids and Detroit, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Philippines: “I think the change in environment was really helpful to breathing new life into the process each time we came back to it,” Dreyer says. Partly inspired by the 2017 psychological thriller First Reformed, No One Was Driving The Car reckons with malaise in the shadow of the looming apocalypse, which has noticeably been worsened by the advancement of tech. The title comes from a quote from a police officer Dreyer read in a news article about a lethal self-driving Tesla crash, an absurd event which raises questions about the amount of control we have in our own lives. In fourteen dynamic tracks, the band grapples with the existential topic and the human need to find comfort and a sense of security in an existence where we’re often thrust into chaos without permission. Dreyer yells with a more primal sense and sings in a more refined way, and the guitars have a sharper edge than ever before. “As much as I don’t enjoy the creative process because it’s taxing and often not fun, I also think it’s the most fun that I ever have,” Dreyer contemplates. “It’s the revelations you make, the breakthroughs. It’s banging your head against a wall and suddenly something clicks in a way that feels almost divine, like it came from somewhere else.”