Aside from one track, this is the album that Thursday should have made last time around. Moving from the independent Victory Records (although all albums thus far have still carried this imprint) to a major label, the band should have opened up their vision with War All the Time.

Instead, that release was a (slightly louder) version of Full Collapse, but missing the melodies of Understanding in a Car Crash”, the song that brought Thursday to attention in the first place. From the opening gambit “The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (Of Control)” it’s clear that Thursday, as produced by Dave Fridmann, are going to be a far more elastic affair, with songs “Counting 5-4-3-2-1” “We Will Overcome”, and the Bloc Party-influenced “Telegrath Avenue Kiss” more immediate than anything from the past.

“Sugar in the Sacrament” is all light and shade, while “At This Velocity” is the other way inclined – Thursday amp the ‘screamo’ to aggravation levels. Geoff Rickly can still be prone to moan, while the obsession with blood is now just plain strange. Yet it’s these dark tones that make Thursday stand aside from their brethren: they were always one of the more interesting proponents of the myopic style.

So A City By the Light Divided shows that Thursday have moved beyond. The keyboards and synths take a greater role here, but whether that’s Fridmann’s influence or a progression for the band will not be shown through until the next album. Thursday are exciting because they’ve get complexes – and occasionally that nature can by ugly, but the thrill is that this band are using to channel it into something strong.