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''War All the Time'' is the third studio album by American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Thursday Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...
. Following the release of their second album ''
Full Collapse ''Full Collapse'' is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitarist Steve Pedulla, ...
'' (2001), the group had a series of negative experiences with their label
Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...
regarding promotion. While this was happening, the group was contacted by major labels, and in May 2002, signed to
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
. The signing was made official later in the year when an exit agreement was made with Victory Records. In November, the group started writing new material. In January 2003, they began recording their next album with Sal Villanueva at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studios in
Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Signals Over the Air" in August. ''War All the Time'' was released through Island Records on September 16. Selling 74,000 copies in the first week, the album charted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200. In addition, it charted within the top 75 in the UK. Following this, keyboardist Andrew Everding, who had performed on a few songs on the album, became a member of the group. The group then went on a short US tour, before embarking on a UK tour. Between October and December, the group went on another US tour, toured with
Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...
, and filmed a video for "War All the Time". In early 2004, the group toured Japan, Australia and New Zealand, before supporting
AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...
in North America in February and March. In April, the band went on another tour and appeared on
Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
.


Background

In 2001, Thursday signed to independent label
Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...
. After signing, the band received warnings from their friends that they would find themselves in "a situation that we would regret." The group was unsure what they meant, but thought things would turn out fine due to their contract with the label. They initially thought that part of the contract meant they could sign with a different label if they chose to. However, they realized the deal had in fact stated they could only leave Victory if it was to join a major label, which they thought was "a far-fetched idea to say the least." Later in the year, they released their second album ''
Full Collapse ''Full Collapse'' is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band Thursday. It was released on April 10, 2001, through Victory Records, to whom the band signed after leaving Eyeball Records. With the addition of guitarist Steve Pedulla, ...
'' through the label, eventually reaching number 178 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Before appearing on
Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
, 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 Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of rock band Thursday. Rickly is also a member of hardcore punk band United Nations, and the alternative rock group No Devotion w ...
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. On a number of occasions, the group attempted to have better communication with the label in regards to promotion. On one occasion, Brummel informed them they were not living up to his expectations. Sometime afterwards, the group was touring with
Saves the Day Saves the Day is an American Rock music, rock band from Princeton, New Jersey, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Conley, guitarist Arun Bali, and bassist Rodrigo Palma. After forming under the nam ...
. Around this time, Thursday had started writing material for their next album; guitarist Tom Keeley said they had two older songs that were almost close to completion before they had started promoting ''Full Collapse''. 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." The group was disappointed that his positivity "wasn't there from the beginning. ... Instead of Tony's relationship with us being based on a love for music, it was based entirely on numbers." While all the interactions with the label were occurring, the group was being contacted by major labels. The group, who "didn't understand nythingabout major labels", pondered about other independent labels they would join. However, due to their contract they wouldn't be allowed to move to another independent label. Throughout 2001, people from major label
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
had been to the band's shows since they became a full-time touring act. Soon after, the label expressed interest in signing the band. In February 2002, keyboardist Andrew Everding joined the band. 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. Up to this point, ''Full Collapse'' had sold 111,000 copies. 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 The Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJMG) was an American recording music unit, formed on New Year's Eve 1998 by the Universal Music Group. It consists of labels devised and consisted under the basic operations of Island Records and Def Jam Recordi ...
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 " aying offthat 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". In September and October, the group went on the Plea for Peace Tour, 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 touring. In mid-November, the group continued writing new material; over the course of the next two months, they wrote the majority of what would become the album. Up to now, the members had made notes on their laptops and made
Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
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 A kludge or kluge () is a workaround or quick-and-dirty solution that is clumsy, inelegant, inefficient, difficult to extend and hard to maintain. This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, Internet sla ...
'' 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 Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Sal Villanueva again. Joe Pedulla, Arun Venkatesh, Erin Farley and Villanueva engineered the sessions with assistance from Lee Zappas and Mike LaPierre. With ''Full Collapse'', the band members' home lives felt separate from the recording, according to Rickly. However, for ''War All the Time'', "Life resumed for each us ... and all the stresses of life came in." He mentioned that some of the members got married, and family members had died. He added, "I feel like all the stress is reflected in the way the album sounds." Rickly thought they were "doing things that were kind of excessive", mentioning that they recorded four different recordings of every track "just to see which one turned out the best." 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". Villanueva noticed the group getting burned out and took them to a farmhouse studio, which was Longview Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Rickly said it was located in the "woods, basically it’s a log cabin with a fireplace, it’s just really beautiful." The studio had a grand piano on which the group fleshed out a piano part that Everding had previously written. Rickly said Everding repeatedly played the part and recorded it. The group took a break from recording to play a few shows in late April. While working on lyrics for the final three songs, he was unable to write any words and became unhappy with the songs. He subsequently suffered from writer's block for a month. Rickly said that after recording was completed, the rest of the band wrote three more songs, which they "liked even better". The label gave the band money to record the new tracks; sessions continued into May 2003. The recordings were mixed by Rumblefish with assistance from Coady Brown, and then mastered by
Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
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 Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...
and
Jonah Matranga Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga (born Jonah Sonz Matranga, August 11, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released a variety of solo material under his own name and onelinedrawing, and has previously been part of the bands ...
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. The material on ''Full Collapse'' was written over a two-year period, while for ''War All the Time'', the tracks were done in two months. During this time period, they spent every day working on songs from 11AM to 8PM. 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". While on tour, they listened to
Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located i ...
and
Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...
. Prior to the album, the group was asked if it would sound closer to " Jet Black New Year", a track Pedulla called "the heaviest song we wrote". Pedulla and Keeley initially denied it; the former stated that the song was a direction they "went for a little while, and we are going somewhere else now." Keeley added that it "definitely runs thematically" throughout ''War All the Time''. Speaking of the title, Rickly said: "I think a title like ''War All the Time'' for a record about love seems to demonstrate what our band is about — that balance between violence and grace." 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 Henry Charles Bukowski ( ; born Heinrich Karl Bukowski, ; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted ...
, who wrote a poem where the album took its title from. He said it soon became a substantial part of his life, and he "felt like I was stifling myself by not writing about it." Discussing the lack of hooks on the album, Rickly said "When you write music, you hear what you've done, and you immediately find what you're missing with what you did." He added, "If this were a really hooky record, I'd say it weren't complex enough." Musically, the album's sound has been classified as
post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...
and
emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...
.


Songs

Rickly compared "For the Workforce, Drowning" to a "super heavy"
Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...
. "Division St." describes an evening in which Rickly visited a group of his friends. Upon learning they were using heavy drugs, he left and was mugged and stabbed in the leg. When he went to visit a girl he liked for help, he found out she was with someone else. He said the track was about how "it can sometimes seem like your whole world is coming apart and you find out that everything you thought you knew is not how you thought it was." The music for the song was influenced by
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
. 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. Rickly said "Signals Over the Air" was about "being scared of sexuality", which he has "always kind of had issues with" to the point "where it always seemed very predatory to me". "Marches and Maneuvers" talks about Rickly and his ex-girlfriend's opinions on abortion and children. He said it "addresses living together and having all those pressures, and then eventually blaming each other for things that happen". Discussing "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", Rickly said he had "this feeling of wanting to escape the outside world and escape the news." He added that, "On the news every day there would be all these things about the war going on and that terrified me ... It gave an impulse for me to want to block it out." It was intended to solely be an instrumental interlude; however, Rickly "kept hearing things", and asked Everding if it was alright to sing over it.Jackson 2003 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." Rickly said the song was about his upbringing in New Jersey. He added that it was "sort of like love all the time, and the price of trying to have love all the time." The song talks about three important occasions in Rickly's life, which he attempted to model it after ''
Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...
'' (1999). The first part details moving to a town where one of his friends' brothers fell off a cliffside, and some of his friends subsequently committed suicide. The second part discusses Rickly discovering music, and the third part talks about love and how that can affect a person's sense of self and confidence. The rhythm and melody of the song came out during a soundcheck. Keeley was playing a part repeatedly and drummer Tucker Rule joined playing a variety of beats. Pedulla then began playing along, playing what Rickly called "these beautiful, glistening guitar parts". Rickly said "M. Shepard" was "not directly" about
Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...
, but also about his friend who was afraid to
come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
and "how complex sexuality is". "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

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 March 25, 2003, ''War All the Time'' was announced for release in August. 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 ''Rival Schools: United by Fate'', known in Japan as is a fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as an arcade game in 1997 and ported to the PlayStation (console), PlayStation in 1998. On February 23, 2012, Capcom released ''Unit ...
,
This Day Forward This Day Forward was a Philadelphia-area band active from 1996 to 2003 whose style varied from metalcore to post-hardcore with indie rock influences. History The band was formed in 1997 in the Philadelphia suburbs by brothers Mike and Gary ...
,
Murder by Death ''Murder by Death'' is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, M ...
and
Every Time I Die Every Time I Die was an American metalcore band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1998. For most of the band's career, the line-up was centred on brothers Keith (vocals) and Jordan Buckley (guitar), as well as rhythm guitarist Andy Williams wi ...
. In addition, they performed at the Field Day and
Hellfest Hellfest (), also called Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a rock festival focusing on heavy metal music, held annually in June in Clisson, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one of ...
festivals. "For the Workforce, Drowning" was released on a split 7-inch vinyl record with "
Under a Killing Moon ''Under a Killing Moon'' is a 1994 point-and-click adventure interactive movie video game. It is the third installment in the '' Tex Murphy'' series of adventure games produced by Access Software. In it, the detective Tex Murphy finds himself un ...
" by
Thrice Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school. Early in their career, the band was known ...
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. "Signals Over the Air" was released to radio on August 12. Having the song as a single, Rickly said he "like 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 Frans Joakim "Jocke" Åhlund (born 9 August 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish musician, producer and music video director. He is the lead guitarist and lead singer of the band Caesars, and a member of the bands Teddybears, Smile and Les ...
. Initially announced for release on August 19, the album's release was delayed so that the group could record new material. ''War All the Time'' was eventually released on September 16 through Island Records. It was previously made available for streaming nine days prior to release. The UK version of the album was released through
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
. The Japanese version included a cover of
Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
' "
Ný batterí "Ný batterí" ( Icelandic for "new batteries") is a song by Sigur Rós, released as the second single from their album '' Ágætis byrjun'' in May 2000. The first track is an extended brass intro for "Ný batterí" (credited as "performed by th ...
" (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 with
Year of the Rabbit The rabbit ( 兔) is the fourth in the twelve-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Rabbit is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 卯. In the Vietnamese zodiac and t ...
and
Death by Stereo Death by Stereo (also referred to as D.B.S.) is an American hardcore punk band formed in Orange County, California circa 1998 by frontman Efrem Schulz. They are well known for their energetic performances and intricate guitar work. Their name ...
. In October, the group went on a UK tour with
Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria are an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The band consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), an ...
and
Further Seems Forever Further Seems Forever is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Pompano Beach, Florida. Over its initial eight-year run the band experienced several lineup changes, resulting in a different lead vocalist performing on each of their first three s ...
. In October and November, the group went on a tour of North America with
Thrice Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school. Early in their career, the band was known ...
and Coheed and Cambria. On October 31, the band performed on '' The Late Late Show''. Following this, the group toured with
Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first five ...
until early December. On December 15, a music video was filmed for "War All the Time" in New Jersey with director
Marc Klasfeld Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Slipknot, Sum 41, Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Kelly ...
. Jon Wiederhorn of
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
said the video uses "war-coverage techniques to create an atmosphere of extreme urgency" and "infrared and green night-vision filters to imitate war footage". Some of the scenes in the video were styled after films by
Godfrey Reggio Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental documentary films. Life Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian noblem ...
: ''
Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' (), also known as ''Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'', is a 1982 American experimental film, experimental non-narrative film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by R ...
'' (1983), ''
Powaqqatsi ''Powaqqatsi'', also known as ''Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation'', is a 1988 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and the sequel to Reggio's experimental 1982 film, ''Koyaanisqatsi''. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilo ...
'' (1988), and ''
Naqoyqatsi ''Naqoyqatsi'', also known as ''Naqoyqatsi: Life as War'', is a 2002 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final installment in the Qatsi trilogy. ...
'' (2002). In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan, followed by appearances at
Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typically in January of eac ...
in New Zealand and Australia. Following this, the group supported
AFI AFI may refer to: * ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol * Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer * AFI (band), an American rock band ** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...
on their North American tour in February and March, and played a handful of shows with
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
Head Automatica Head Automatica was an American Rock music, rock band from Brooklyn, New York (state), New York fronted by Daryl Palumbo (also of Glassjaw). History The beginnings of the band stemmed from singer Daryl Palumbo's interests in the hip hop music ...
, and
Piebald A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...
. A tour with Poison the Well, Engine Down, and
Spitalfield Spitalfield was an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois signed to Victory Records. Formed in 1998, Spitalfield caught the attention of Victory Records with their 2002 release ''The Cloak And Dagger Club EP'' and a year later released their ...
started in April, which lead into an appearance on the main stage at the
Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
. A music video was released for "For the Workforce, Drowning" on June 18, 2004, directed by Pedulla and filmed on the tour with Poison the Well. They supported
the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
on their US tour in July and August 2004, and appeared at Strhessfest.


Reception


Critical response

Critics gave the album a varied response.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
reviewer Johnny Loftus wrote that the record "rocks on the dynamics between singing and screaming, between rage unleashed and thoughts cast inward." He also said that in spite of the album's "righteous gospel, startling dynamic shifts, and hurtling minor-chord choruses", it unavoidably starts to "resemble one long, 40-minute song." ''
CMJ New Music Report CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'' Amy Sciarretto compared the band to
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
in that they use "vivid detail and gruff emotion to paint pictures that aren't beautiful".Sciarretto 2003, p. 4 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." ''
Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...
'' writer James Parrish said the album, when compared to ''Full Collapse'', "falls flat on its face through trying too hard." He added that the melodies were "haphazard and overtly awkward and the instrumentation, while competent and intricate, is nothing you couldn't hear" before on ''Full Collapse''.
Contactmusic.com Contactmusic.com is an online magazine of cultural criticism based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, and ...
reviewer Mark Danson wrote "there's just nothing special here, either in the playing, writing or the production." He also said the group's "only saving grace" was "their vocalist 'sounds-a-bit-like- the-guy-from-The-Cure'." In a review for ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'',
Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
called the album " nsitive as a teardrop, but hitting with the impact of a two-by-four across the jaw", adding that it gave "good elegy with its mix of emo-punk sincerity and metal-tinged-roar." Stuart Green of ''
Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' said the album "suffer the same terminal fate" as the group's contemporaries – "one of tedious sameness ... appy torehash the stuff they've done in the past."
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'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." He noted that while the intros on the majority of the songs reveal "the diversity of the band", they then revert to "the screaming and the overdriven guitars." ''Ink19'' reviewer Daniel L. Mitchell gave a very positive review of the album, praising the writing (especially "Division St.", "For The Workforce, Drowning" and "M. Shepard") and production on the record. Mitchell also appreciated "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", despite that in his opinion, it "should, in theory, suck". He concluded, "War All The Time is "emo" done correctly, and while others will try to copy it, they will undoubtedly fail." ''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. ''
Melodic A melody (from Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combinat ...
'' writer Kaj Roth said the group lacked "the same heavyweight production" as contemporary act
From Autumn to Ashes From Autumn to Ashes is a post-hardcore band based in Long Island, New York. The group formed in 2000 under the name Who's to Blame. While the band had gone through many line-up changes, the members include Francis Mark (lead vocals, drums), S ...
, and that the songs felt like "an enduro to get through". 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 Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave the album a "dud". Music journalist
Christian Hoard Christian David Hoard is an American music journalist and music editor for '' Rolling Stone''. A 2000 graduate of the University of Michigan, he began his career as a music journalist writing for the ''Michigan Daily''. He later moved to New York ...
wrote that, in a review for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', the album "brims over with all the jagged guitars and bad thoughts a bunch of suburban New Jersey kids can muster." He also said that the group created an album that was "desperate and intense enough to resonate outside their corner of the underground." ''
Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' Andrew Beaujon said Rickly "sings like Ben Folds after a particularly messy breakup", and manages to fill the beginning "moment f each songwith starved romanticism." Beaujon mentioned that the record's "artier tracks ... will probably enervate longtime fans who worry that major-label cash is clouding their heroes’ worldview."


Commercial performance and legacy

The album sold over 74,000 copies, giving the band their best sales week. It charted at number seven on the
Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
in the process. In the UK, it charted at number 62. By April 2004, the album had sold 259,000 copies 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 Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...
chart in the US, and at number 62 in the UK. ''Drowned in Sound'' included it on their top albums of 2003 list, while ''Exclaim!'' ranked it at number two on their Best Punk Album of the year list behind ''
Scandinavian Leather ''Scandinavian Leather'' is an album by the Norwegian band Turbonegro that followed the band's reunion in 2002 and was released in April 2003 on Burning Heart Records in Sweden, on Bitzcore Records in Germany, on JVC/ Victor Records in Japan, and ...
'' by
Turbonegro Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style. History Early years (1 ...
. In a retrospective review for
Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...
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". They performed the album in its entirety in October 2009, while in the midst of promoting their fifth studio album, ''
Common Existence ''Common Existence'' is the fifth full-length album from rock band Thursday. Recording In March 2008, the band spent sometime recording at Big Blue Meenie Recording Studio in Jersey City, New Jersey. On August 13, 2008, the band announced that ...
''. 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 Thursday is the Names of the days of the week, day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fi ...
except "This Song Brought to You by a Falling Bomb", which was written by Andrew Everding and Thursday. All lyrics written by
Geoff Rickly Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of rock band Thursday. Rickly is also a member of hardcore punk band United Nations, and the alternative rock group No Devotion w ...
. # "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 "Ný batterí" ( Icelandic for "new batteries") is a song by Sigur Rós, released as the second single from their album '' Ágætis byrjun'' in May 2000. The first track is an extended brass intro for "Ný batterí" (credited as "performed by th ...
    " (
    Sigur Rós Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
    cover) – 6:34


    Personnel

    Personnel per booklet. Thursday *
    Geoff Rickly Geoffrey William Rickly (born March 8, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter of rock band Thursday. Rickly is also a member of hardcore punk band United Nations, and the alternative rock group No Devotion w ...
    – 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 Jonah Rzadzinski Matranga (born Jonah Sonz Matranga, August 11, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who has released a variety of solo material under his own name and onelinedrawing, and has previously been part of the bands ...
    – 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 Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
    – mastering *Morning Breath Inc. – art direction, illustration, design * Ken Schles – photography


    Charts


    References

    Footnotes Citations Sources * * * * * *


    External links


    ''War All the Time''
    at
    YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
    (streamed copy where licensed) {{Authority control 2003 albums Thursday (band) albums Island Records albums Albums produced by Sal Villanueva