As one of the founding fathers of the post-hardcore genre, Thursday helped shape what would become a revolution for punk rock in the early 2000s. In the past few years since their return, they’ve proven that their comeback won’t be as short-lived as their fans thought, with 2026 shaping up to be another great year. After reuniting in 2016 and subsequently breaking up three years later, many listeners were concerned that this second revival would only last a few years as well. But after three new hard-hitting tracks and over 300 new shows, ending a 13-year dry spell, they've proven that this new era of Thursday is just getting started.
Thursday was formed in 1998 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, by guitarist Tom Keeley and drummer Tucker Rule, with lead vocalist Geoff Rickly joining shortly after. They released their first record, Waiting, a year later, and rapidly surged in popularity following the release of their second album, Full Collapse, in 2001. Its first full song, "Understanding In A Car Crash," is by far the band's most popular track and introduced many of Thursday's fans to the band (myself included), whether it was at the time of its release or in the 24 long years since. Over the next 10 years, Thursday released four other studio albums: War All The Time, A City By The Light Divided, Kill The House Lights, and No Devolución.
As the first band in its genre to gain mainstream attention in the rock industry, Thursday played a massive part (alongside Thrice) in popularizing the addition of heavy screaming to punk vocals, inspiring later post-hardcore sensations such as Saosin, The Used, Silverstein, Taking Back Sunday, and Story of the Year. With the close connection between post-hardcore and the general 2000s emo scene, a lot of the music we grew up with and hold so dear to our hearts likely wouldn’t have existed without Thursday.
As of now, there are currently three songs from Thursday’s comeback singles, and they’re a phenomenal return to the band’s form despite the long break. The first single, “Application for Release From the Dream,” basks in the glory of post-hardcore’s roots while keeping the band’s signature atmospheric style along with a wicked screamo section in its bridge. “White Bikes,” the second single, dropped alongside a sweet monochrome music video that blends classic 2000s emo/post-hardcore guitar sounds with early 90s emo production, screaming to its listeners that Thursday hasn’t forgotten where they came from. The third and most recent single, “Taking Inventory of a Frozen Lake,” is a cacophony of the band’s old sounds filtered through a new lens, blending the sounds of their albums No Devolución and Full Collapse and covering them in a fresh coat of paint to cement their upcoming album’s style and give their listeners exactly what they want.
I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Thursday at The Ritz in Raleigh this past month with Silverstein for the last leg of their “25 Years of Noise” USA tour, and what a show it was! They gave a warm welcome to all their fans who came out to see them that night and played so hard that it truly seemed they were making up for lost time. At the end of their set, Thursday said this was just a glimpse of what they have in store for us, and that 2026 will hold quite a few surprises. I’ll absolutely be keeping a close eye out for future tours, and of course, their upcoming album. The title and release date have yet to be announced, but I’m fully expecting a comeback-of-the-age record from them.
