The Thermals

The cover art of the Thermals' latest, The Body, the Blood, the Machine, demands a close look. The intriguing collage features Jesus with a black bar covering his eyes, standing with his arms outstretched in a junkyard, surrounded by what look like dead appliances. So what the hell does it mean, you ask? Wonder no more. From the first track on, singer Hutch Harris, sounding like a cynical Ben Gibbard with a massive pair of cojones, takes us on a post-pop-punk (the brain trust at Sub Pop coined the term) journey that provides some insight. During the excursion, Harris muses about everything from the future and how we were all born in sin, to the impending apocalypse and how God might have to kill us, to our need for a new world order. The whole thing is really uplifting, in a vaguely sacrilegious sort of way.