David Thomas
Indiana Daily Student
Pennywise's new album Full Circle is a thrashing tribute to its former bassist Jason Thirsk, who committed suicide last summer.
The black album design, along with almost all the lyrics, concern themselves with this loss to the punk community.
While many might not consider Thirsk an important member of the mainstream rock world, the bassist was essential in creating the music and band that became known as Pennywise. The group's relentless touring and high-powered albums set it apart from the rest of the mediocre bands playing the same rehashed punk classics. Pennywise brought the intensity and sound of Bad Religion and redesigned it for the 1990s.
Thirsk's bass became a trademark sound for much of the music on the band's two most successful albums, 1993's Unknown Road and 1995's About Time.
The remaining members of the band have crafted a harder-edged album that lacks much of the rhythm Thirsk so eloquently added to the group's records. New bassist Randy Bradbury's technical skill is an adequate replacement for Thirsk's, but he lacks originality and creativity in songwriting.
Full Circle makes up for any lack of growth with full emotional power. Every track sounds as though the band members are giving their departing words to Thirsk. That's just what "Final Day" is. Singer Jim Lindberg eulogizes for his departed friend: It didn't have to be this way, you could have carried on/Another chance for you to taste your freedom, where did it go wrong?
"Final Day" is probably the most blatant admission to the loss in the band, but the entire album has a darker mood than past records. Song titles such as "Fight Till You Die" and "Did You Really" are stark examples of the frame of mind the band must have been in while recording this album.
As far as the music and progression of this album, not much has changed from previous works. It is completely understandable that Pennywise would go back to its roots and not try to change the sound drastically. Luckily, Lindberg takes the vocal duties so seriously that they are his best recorded work. The vocals are clear and crisp and outshine the guitars and drums.
"Every Time" has Lindberg at his best, singing, I wanna say feel it slipping away/It happens every time you're in my mind/I want to say things that to you are true.
Full Circle is the closest the band has come to recreating the sound of its first full-length album and the faster tracks from Unknown Road. While the production and playing of Full Circle is far beyond that first self-titled effort, some similarities exist. Similar to the self-titled album, Full Circle is a fast-paced work that doesn't have any lulls and ends in a dramatic climax.
"Bro Hymn Tribute" is a live recording of the song that ended Pennywise. Originally the song was for some of the band's friends who had died. The reworked version, with a huge backing chorus, has different lyrics dedicated to Thirsk, and it is rare that the punk band shows such a high level of emotion in the song. This track is an appropriate tribute to Thirsk because of the live sound and vocal inflections. Especially when Thirsk's brother grabs the mic and his cracking voice shouts: While you were here fun was neverending/Laugh a minute only the beginning/Jason my brother this one's for you.
Eight minutes of blank space follow the end of the labelled tracks before a piano begins to play the entire composition that serves as just an intro on the band's Unknown Road. It escapes cliche only because it originally served as a launching for one of the best SoCal albums of the 1990s.
Looking back on the career of a punk band that named itself after a famous Steven King character reveals strange things. The band is still playing its music, but it feels like something has ended. Full Circle addresses this in the title. A chapter in the band's history is closed and it has already begun another one.