Thou - Heathen

Written by Atanamar Sunyata.


One does not simply walk into a Thou album; the visceral journey is a full mind and body experience. Crossing the threshold of Heathen demands patience and attention, but crushing catharsis is a listener’s reward. You can choose to hone in on the doom, sludge, or drone aspects of Thou’s sound, but the wielding of impossible weight is their wont.

Photos by Carmelo Española

Whereas its predecessor soared to intoxicating sonic heights, Heathen hugs the earth. Thou have kept their massively heavy guitar sound intact, and they use it to plow familiar tracts of gorgeously glum landscape, turning over nuggets of melodic epiphany and post-rock brilliance along the way. The rhythms tend towards tectonic trudge, but occasional upbeat outbursts are likely to grab hold of you and compel physical reaction. Drag that fuckin’ weight, man.

Photos by Carmelo Española

Bryan Funck’s radioactive rasp demands a listener’s attention, and his predominantly comprehensible lyrics demand that you dig up the words to comprehend each and every one. As always, for me, it’s Thou’s lyrical treatises that take my engagement as a listener above and beyond. On Heathen we are entreated to exalt, reject, scorn, and defeat. Revel in and accept the agony of existence, persevering, above all, via endurance.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

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]

Splits by Coffinworm / Fistula - Kowloon Walled City / Thou

Art by Kuba Sokólski

Hell Comes Home is a pretty specialized label. Their entire output consists of a series of 7" split singles released on vinyl and on Bandcamp. Featuring new and unreleased song by established, and up and coming acts from around the globe. Like Dephosphorus, Pyramido, Fight Amp, The Fucking Wrath, and Coffinworm, Fistula, Kowloon Walled City, Thou. The latter four bands share duties on two of my favorites in the series.

The Coffinworm / Fistula split is basically some of the heaviest shit you'll ever hear. Pummeling doomy sludge from Coffinworm; an incredible menacing track. And Fistula, a track that twists and turns giving it an progressive feel, while still delivering the sublimely crushing sludge they are known for.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

The Kowloon Walled City / Thou split features two cover songs. Kowloon Walled City performs June, a song by slowcore act Low. The combination of airy clean vocals from indie artist Lisa Papineau on top of sludgy riffs is frankly, quite lovely. Thou does an excellent version of Soundgarden's 4th Of July. Heavier than the original, sludgier off course, and with creepy blackened vocals in additional to very Chris Cornell sounding cleans (I have embedded both songs below, because 4th Of July is set to be the featured track on the Bandcamp).

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

The stylish artwork to the series is by Polish artist Kuba Sokólski. You can view all the covers here. Lisa Papineau is also on Bandcamp. Her music is quirky, pleasant and entirely non-metal.