January 28, 2014

Thou - Summit



Thou has a Bandcamp now. It is a little spotty right now; the full-lengths are there - including a placeholder for the next one Heathen due in March) - all available as name your price downloads. Else it's a few empty albums, including one Algiers I have no idea what is. But I got a heads up from the band that "We're remastering a pile of the EP stuff, so that'll all be uploaded once I have the new WAVs", so more goodies are forthcoming.

Summit from 2010 is their latest full-length. It's an excellent piece of doomy sludge with more black metal influence than typical for the genre. Songs are long and generally slow, but they are filled with creative details like blast beats introducing a song (and organ ending it), piano underscoring a riff, a discrete horn section (even a little chamber ensemble instrumental). Thou's attention to detail also shows in the guitars; besides the requisite fuzzy heaviness, they provide sometimes quite subtle interplay, surprise riffs and melodies that make each song stand out.

Thou have a very strong DIY sensibility- check out Cosmo Lee's write up on the band (and Summit) from Invisible Oranges - so it's a little surprising that it took them this long to make the jump to Bandcamp. But maybe it was already having a solid DIY setup in place that made it take longer, I don't know. Either way, I'm glad they did.


[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

2 comments:
  1. Sofa King psyched that Thou has a bandcamp page! Looks like I'll be going on a rampage to fill in the gaps in my collection. Thanks for finding this. Also, Heathen is probably my most anticipated album of 2014. And Summit is my shit.

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    1. I didn't find it as much as I got a heads up from the band. I asked them about Bandcamp back in 2011 - good things come to those who wait :)

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