The Thirsting has been putting out high quality Catholic rock music since their first album released in 2008. Although they’ve enjoyed consistent success and a growing fanbase, which made them popular enough to play World Youth Day 2016, they only recently came under our radar, at which point they blew us away with the title track of their third studio album, Michael.
The first thing that struck us about The Thirsting is how solid they sound as a band. Their style is very developed with clear influences from early punk-rock bands like The Ramones and The Clash, as well as later more punk-pop bands like Greenday or R.E.M. and the results are energetic, rocking tunes that could compete with any of the greatest names from the CBGB pantheon.
“Michael,” featured above, opens up with the same vigorous feel as Greenday’s “American Idiot,” in that it revolves around a guitar melody made from power chords. The arrangement also contains some really trendy elements, like palm-muting the guitars during the chorus, which both emphasizes the lyrics and makes the chorus sound all the more vibrant.
The lyrics are where “Michael” really shines, the verses tell the story of how Michael fought the denizens of hell and defeated the devil in battle. The text is drawn from the Prayer of Saint Michael, which is used almost in its entirety throughout the song, because of this, each time you listen to the song, it’s like you just prayed to St. Michael. The chorus was built from the first two lines of the prayer:
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle
Of the song, lead singer/songwriter Daniel Oberreuter said:
Take the Ramones and Green Day and make them Catholic with devotion to St. Michael the Arch Angel, and you get “Michael!!!” This song is a serious spiritual warfare song. When I wrote it, I couldn’t believe the lyrics that came out of my mouth. Honestly it didn’t even feel like I wrote the lyrics… they just came out of my mouth and made sense. You will see when you listen to it…
And today we celebrate...