Personal Life

For the first time, Personal Life aggressively follows a pure power punk sound instead of hinting other forms of punk rock. Though there’s enough three-chord goodness to pass around, The Thermals are also starting to rest comfortably on their layered riffs.

It almost seems as though there are two EPs that make up Personal Life: one comprising crisp pop songs with infectious sing-a-long choruses, and another filled with slower, contemplative snoozers.

It's coincidental that they titled their new album Personal Life in a year of Big Indie Statements, but it does underline what makes them special. The Thermals were never a "political" band per se. On Personal Life, as on all of the Thermals albums, you get the sense that you're listening to an individual think out loud, puzzle through some shit, register the aforementioned hopes, confusion, and occasional joy. Sometimes that individual just happens to be thinking about the federal government, organized religion, and other ulcer-inducing topics.

While Personal Life is a convincing and impressive whole, it does have parts that don’t quite hold up on their own. The thing about relaying confusion is that it’s hard to do that and not make the song itself seem confused, which happens on “Not Like Any Other Feeling” and on the first half of “Only for You”.