A Weird Exits

Thee Oh Sees are always the same but different, drifting through genres before twisting them out of shape, from the bubblegum of Castlemania to the metal-tinged Floating Coffin. On A Weird Exists, they do this more successfully than ever before. [Sep 2016, p.80]

A Weird Exits can be a trying album, requiring the listener to tumble through several disorienting sonic rabbit holes. The reward, however, is emerging from the other side of this wild ride with stories and theories as to what exactly went down between the channels of your headphones.

Expanding their lineup with a second drummer, Thee Oh Sees are allowed to stretch their sound and release one of their most cosmic, trippiest records yet.

This album sees the acquisition of a new twin-sticksman rhythm section, which powers Dwyer's ever-progressive tracks to new heights of psychedelic delirium. [Oct 2016, p.110]

Time has been kind to Thee Oh Sees, who remain proper royalty in the garage rock universe and manage to shape-shift without losing their boisterous and impactful delivery.

From gut-wrenching lows to stratospheric heights, A Weird Exits is an adrenaline-fuelled ride of epic proportions.

It’s less a weird exit and more a brawny re-entry.

Thee oh Sees have never done ‘Thee oh Sees’ quite as well as they do here, a riot of lucid cacophony, androgyny, glowing vignettes of loveliness, and two drummers caught in the most sublime lockstep.

It's a record that won't do anything to alter the narrative of the band's discography, but duly reiterates exactly why Thee Oh Sees, in its fluctuating forms, is the most important name in modern day garage rock.

With Mutilator, and now this album, the band is firing on all cylinders and then some, making psych-prog-metal-punk jams for the ages.

A Weird Exits should prove a solid fan-satisfier or entry point for newbies.

There’s nothing in A Weird Exits that signals a massive change in the future of Thee Oh Sees, nor does it stand head and shoulders above their catalog. Instead it’s one of many great records they’ve produced and one that shows a refinement and strengthening in John Dwyer’s guitar and voice and one that will continue to fill mosh pits the world over.

Even when their pendulum is swinging at a steadier pace, Thee Oh Sees still have the power to hypnotize--but from its twitchy jams to its blown-out power ballads, A Weird Exits’ most intriguing moments come when they break the trance.

It’s probably not the album in the band’s considerable catalogue that’s going to convert the unconvinced--it’s a bit too uneven to be considered for that position--but, for the first time in a while, Thee Oh Sees have their eyes fixed firmly on new ground.

With some new tricks as well. A Weird Exits runs a tad overboard and drags midway through but despite being about three or four tracks too long, don't let it slip by.

It’s not a massive reinvention and it does generally lack the constant flow of melody that makes their previous work so irresistible. Having said that, they sit on the proverbial psychedelic throne for a reason; they’re trendsetters not copycats.

A Weird Exits and Dwyer’s new line-up mark maybe the project’s freshest turn since the beginnings of their In the Red era. These songs hit you straight-on, but then they wrap around you and never quite let go.

Seventeenth album from the freaky forefathers of California skuzz, A Weird Exits somehow captures Thee Oh Sees at their best.