by Scott Yohe
After having all of their loose material gathered on Thankology, we finally get Leeds’ best noise rock band Thank’s debut album, Thoughtless Cruelty. This is a record that is meant to be played as loud as possible, an album that is filled with clever lyrics, a clear nihilistic view of the world, and pounding instrumentals. Thoughtless Cruelty is described as “a stark observation of human cruelty filtered through the band’s grim fascinations including long term nuclear warnings” something that becomes obvious when listening to vocalist Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe. It’s 32 minutes of an interesting take on noise rock with a sense of humor.
The album opens with “From Heaven,” which like all the songs, is best played loudly. With a droning instrumental in the background, the lyrics talk about punishment, getting power from Heaven, and not learning your lesson from the things you’ve done wrong. The next song, “Good Boy,” has a pounding instrumental that does not relent at all. Lyrics about being a ‘good boy’ because they “only consume art which pats me on the back for being a good boy” or “only paid attention when the causes were convenient” are funny because a lot of people think this kind of ignorance is acceptable. The song evolves into a chaotic but beautiful mess at the end. “Punching Bag” begins with pure noise opening for the lyrics “Tonight Matthew, I am nothing, and I'm okay with that/tonight Matthew, I will shit in my own hands and clap/tonight Matthew, I will be your fucking punching bag/then write down how I feel so all your fucking friends can have a fucking laugh,” screaming about how that all sounds “so appealing”. All the while the noisy instrumental pounds on and on.
“Paris Syndrome” is an obtuse song lyrically, but nevertheless it works. The instrumental is driven by a noise track backing the whole thing, with a beautiful freakout including xylophones! Perhaps the funniest song is “Dread” with lyrics such as “There's never been a good band from London/and there's never been a good band below the age of 25/there's never been a good band from Leeds,” all of which is Thank poking fun at themselves, however the statements are untrue, because Thank is in fact a good band from Leeds and below the age of 25. On “Social Contract” Thank revolt against the very theory of the title reference with the biting lyric, “all the worst people you know are now friends with each other”. It even ends with a saxophone freakout that sounds amazing.
“Very Cool” features a very cool electronic addition that does nothing but add to the amazing noise. The next song “Plausible Deniability” opens with the funny and arrogant lyrics of “I am extremely handsome and alluring/And I will face God as I walk backwards into Hell,” the nihilism really shining through. Ending the album is “No Funeral” an amazing song that takes its time getting to the end, with a crunching riff throughout.
Thank has proven themselves, despite what they say, to be a good band from Leeds, even a great one. Thoughtless Cruelty is a great example of how a genre like noise rock still has a long way to go. It’s a clever exploration of feelings that we all feel, regardless of if we're aware of them or not. The nihilism, while a central theme of the record, doesn’t make this all that depressing. It’s an album that demands your attention, demands that you listen to it loudly, but most importantly demands that you listen to it thoughtfully. We need to thank Thank for Thoughtless Cruelty.