The release entry for Thrice’s second Alchemy Index set records a “Vol. V” misprint on some copies of disc two. There is no volume five. Thrice made four, released two at a time, and a printing slip put a number on a disc that does not exist in the sequence. You need it when a copy turns up for sale and you are trying to work out what you are looking at.
So here are the Thrice albums in order, each with the date and label carried by the release entry we read. Staple News is an independent magazine and has no affiliation with the original Staple Records label that used to own this domain, and none with Thrice.
Thrice albums in order
The table uses a twelve-release sequence through Horizons/West. The shrink wrap sticker on the 2021 record calls it “The eleventh studio album”, This sequence counts the two Alchemy Index halves separately and then adds the 2025 record. Dates below are the ones printed on the entries we inspected, with format-specific dates discussed further down.
| Release | Date on the entry | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Identity Crisis | 6 June 2000 | Greenflag Records |
| The Illusion of Safety | 5 February 2002 | Sub City Records |
| The Artist in the Ambulance | 22 July 2003 | Island, Sub City |
| Vheissu | 18 October 2005 | Island, Sub City |
| The Alchemy Index Vols. I and II | 16 October 2007 | Vagrant Records |
| The Alchemy Index Vols. III and IV | 15 April 2008 | Vagrant Records |
| Beggars | 15 September 2009 | Vagrant Records |
| Major/Minor | 6 September 2011 | Vagrant Records |
| To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere | 27 May 2016 | Vagrant, BMG |
| Palms | 14 September 2018 | Epitaph |
| Horizons/East | 17 September 2021 | Epitaph |
| Horizons/West | 3 October 2025 | Epitaph |
The label chain, from Greenflag to Epitaph
Identity Crisis came out on Greenflag Records with no catalog number at all, produced by Paul Miner with the band. Sub City Records picked up The Illusion of Safety, and that package is the first one on this list that trips people up: the spine reads SC021-2 and the disc itself reads SC021. Same record, two numbers.
Brian McTernan produced it at his Salad Days room in July 2001. The closing track is called The Beltsville Crucible, and the next album’s notes place Salad Days in Beltsville, Maryland. That geographic connection does not establish why the song was named. McTernan produced The Artist in the Ambulance as well, with the drums cut at Bearsville in New York, Andy Wallace mixing at Soundtrack Studios and Howie Weinberg mastering at Masterdisk. Island Records and Sub City shared one catalog number on it, B0000295-02, and did the same again on Vheissu in 2005 with Steve Osborne producing.
Vagrant took the band from 2007 through 2016, then Epitaph from Palms onward. The inspected 2025 vinyl entry describes a 500-copy European label-store edition.
How the Alchemy Index volumes are numbered
Four volumes across two releases. Fire and Water arrived in October 2007 as Vagrant VR478, and Air and Earth followed six months later as VR480. The band produced both with Teppei Teranishi. The volume headings printed on the discs run I Fire, II Water, III Air, IV Earth, and some copies of that second disc carry the “Vol. V” misprint.
The vinyl box that collected all four went out on Vagrant with Cobraside as CSDLP-1128: one 10 inch record per volume, in red translucent, blue translucent, clear and brown marble, wrapped in a “hand-bound hardcover book” and numbered out of 3,000. That box also shipped with a manufacturing fault on the Volume IV record, and the entry records that Vagrant sent replacements out free.
Anthology and the label that owned this domain
The inspected label index carries two Thrice catalog numbers, and both belong to the same live record. The double CD is WH03, with the copyright split between Staple Records and Workhorse Music Group. The four LP box is WH04, dated 30 October 2012, two black records and two white ones in a silk screened canvas wrapped box, stamped and numbered out of 3,000. Our page on the Thrice Anthology live album covers the pre-order tiers and the side lettering in more detail.
The label’s own site dated the pre-order announcement 11 September 2012 and quoted Riley Breckenridge saying the album “is a live record that is truly live. There are no overdubs, no edits and no pitch corrections.” The next post, dated 12 September, says the vinyl pre-order had already sold out. One day.
Dates depend on the edition
The inspected Major/Minor entry reads 6 September 2011, while the band’s official digital album page gives 20 September. Keep the format and source beside the date instead of treating one number as universal.
For Horizons/East, the band’s Bandcamp page gives 17 September 2021. The dated release announcement separately says physical copies would arrive on 8 October. Those dates describe different release formats.
The archived Staple biography also differs from the release records. It dates the debut to 2001 while the inspected original release entry says June 2000, and it lists the second Alchemy pair in prose as “Earth and Air” when the record itself reads Air and Earth. For a correction supported by a release source, our editorial standards page explains how to send it in.