No Devolución | ||||
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The cover art for No Devolución is a paper art piece created by Mia Pearlman titled "Penumbra".
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Studio album by Thursday | ||||
Released | April 12, 2011 | |||
Recorded | July 2010 Tarbox Road Studios in Fredonia, New York | |||
Genre | Post-hardcore, post-rock | |||
Length | 53:09 | |||
Label | Epitaph (87121) | |||
Producer | Dave Fridmann | |||
Thursday chronology | ||||
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Singles from No Devolución | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (88/100) |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk | 95% |
Allmusic | |
Alternative Press | |
The A.V. Club | A- |
Billboard | (favorable) |
Paste | (7.6/10) |
Punknews.org | |
Revolver | |
Rock Sound | (8/10) |
Spin | (8/10) |
Sputnikmusic | (4.5/5) |
No Devolución is the sixth studio album by the American rock band Thursday. The record was released through Epitaph Records on April 12, 2011, and it was Thursday's final album before their five-year breakup from 2011 to 2016. The musical style on No Devolución is a departure from the more traditional post-hardcore sound on Thursday's earlier records, and instead explores darker and more atmospheric tones.
Thursday entered Tarbox Road Studios in Fredonia, New York with producer Dave Fridmann in July 2010. Fridmann had previously produced the band's previous two studio albums: 2006's A City by the Light Divided and 2009's Common Existence. In a press release for the album, vocalist Geoff Rickly commented, "We've worked with Dave Fridmann before, but this is definitely the most we've ever clicked with him." Fridmann was also inspired by the new direction Thursday was taking their music, and assisted the band in taking their music to new areas.
Thursday entered the studio without any demos and impulsively wrote No Devolución on the spot. Within a week the band had a full album written — a dramatically shorter time frame for Thursday as their previous albums had taken between six months and a year to compose. In an effort to "[keep] the songs fresher," recording was performed in several two-week periods with a month off in between sessions. The album's closing song "Stay True" was an improvised studio warm-up song based around a guitar part. Each day a new variation of the instrumental song was performed and recorded live, with some versions lasting up to 20 minutes. The nearly eight-minute track that appears on No Devolución was Thursday's favorite version of the song, and vocals were later recorded for it. Rickly also recorded some of his vocal parts in the forest that surrounds Tarbox Road Studios.
"There's a lot of breakup records out there that only address the end of relationships, and I think the theme of devotion doesn't get explored that often. If devotion is the theme, the new record is a prism that's being used to refract all of its different aspects."
Musically, the record has been described as being atmospheric, dark and moody. Unlike previous Thursday albums, Geoff Rickly did not compose any guitar parts for No Devolución. He wanted to let the members "who actually do the playing on the album [take] charge," and allow them to experiment with "new sounds and directions." According to Rickly, each song on the album explores its own musical direction and "vibe" resulting in a collection of sonically diverse songs. The music is also a departure from the sound found on Thursday's earlier albums. This idea is supported by the album title which translates from Spanish to "no returns." The vocal style has also evolved from previous Thursday albums. Rickly described his singing style as "desperate" and at the top of his range in the past, but for No Devolución he gives a more "sung delivery" that better paired with "beautiful passages."