Recording its fifth album, "Common Existence," was a "trying experience" for the post-hardcore band Thursday [ tickets ]. Left without a record label, the New Jersey collective wasn't sure of its future.

"We basically spent over a year writing it," drummer Tucker Rule said of "Common Existence" in an interview with LiveDaily. "We had a lot of material, as this was our fifth full length. We're the same band but we were trying to do different things--but we didn't want to go too far away from who we are.

"After all these years and knowing each other so well, you really have to hone your ears into what you want to play. It's different when there's six people in the band. Little small details get changed. But it was hard. It took a long time. We didn't have a label, so we were going through that, as well. It was pretty trying."

The result is "Common Existence," an album that hit stores last week via Epitaph Records. The collection was produced by former Mercury Rev member Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Weezer) at his Tarbox Road Studios, and includes the cut "As He Climbed The Dark Mountain," which previously appeared on the band's split EP with Japanese hardcore band Envy.

"Dave's great," Rule said of the producer. "We did [2006's] 'A City by the Light Divided' with him. He's one of our really good friends. He has a really, really great ear. He's just a great dude to work with. He really makes it fun. You can still be your band. He doesn't try to change anything about you. He just wants you to make it better.

"I think he really likes the weird side of our band," Rule added. "That's the kind of thing we're trying to bring out is the more artistic side of our band. We all love music. We all love different styles of music. When we first started the band, we wanted to be a punk hardcore band and we've kept that over the years, but we've tried to incorporate different things into that style. I think he allows us to not feel weird about going further in some sort of directions, while still sounding like Thursday, but just being more experimental. It's a really fun part about playing music. We don't have to fit into verse/chorus/verse. We can do whatever we want because that's what we like to do."

The creative side is something that's important to Rule and the rest of the band: vocalist Geoff Rickly, guitarist Tom Keeley, guitarist Steve Pedulla, bassist Tim Payne, and keyboardist Andrew Everding.

"We like to embrace the artistic side of the band," Rule explained. "I think that's the most fun thing about music: you can kind of go off in weird directions and really express yourself. Not everybody wants to write this 3-minute and 20-second hooky hit. I don't draw or anything like that. My art comes out through my music, I feel like. That's the same way for all of us. It's really a side of music it's fun to embrace at certain times. It's really fun to write music like that."

Thursday will showcase material from the forthcoming album on this year's Taste of Chaos tour with Bring Me the Horizon, Four Year Strong, Pierce the Veil and Cancer Bats.