“Lost in a palace of mirrors.”
Thou’s reputation is enviable: a DIY band dedicated to abrasive and hostile sounds that has a “locked in” throne in the most curated heavy scenes (including Roadburn). Despite a lofty reputation, their music is naught but the fundamentals of punk and metal: thoroughly good song structures, passionate performances, stick-it-to-the-man politics. It all makes for a compelling and widely accessible project despite painting with an admittedly drab brush.
In the gap between major studio releases, Thou have carefully sculpted their sixth LP Umbilical with restraint. Unlike Magus, Heathen, or Summit, Umbilical keeps all its songs well under seven minutes. It’s more aligned to the format found on EP Rhea Sylvia, or perhaps the bulk of early records Tyrant and Peasant: they’re not compressing their epic songs into this format, they simply make them work within this scope.
The record starts in slow tempo, which is familiar Thou territory. “Narcissist’s Prayer” has one of those riffs with its own gravity, yielding a sinking sensation as Bryan Funck and (guest) Derek Zimmer sing “Can you hear the cries? … Of compromised ideals / Of friendships abandoned”. Funck is on top form across Umbilical as his voice merges with the rich distortion. “Emotional Terrorist” continues, giving us that dramatic doom ending, and “Lonely Vigil” is even shorter form Thou-doom that can shake foundations.
Of course, the band can make a spirited groove, too, as the tempo arrives with “House of Ideas” first half. It builds towards a simple yet epic ending with soaring leads over determined chugs. The speed peaks on “I Feel Nothing When You Cry“, full of stop-starts and ride grooves. Starting off side two, “Unbidden Guest” finds time for a drum focused bridge before Funck brings the malice as he barks “Will I ever be rid of you?“.
The record’s later stretch remembers to include a few punk ‘bangers’: “The Promise” sneaks a hook into its chorus and “Panic Stricken, I Flee” boasts a riff so dumb and fun it makes you think they’re doing a cover. Pulling the last bout of disquiet from the bottom of their souls, the closer “Siege Perilous” is a feedbacking monster, and the closest the band get to offering an emotive streak in its verse riff. The record’s final moments offer no such sympathy.
Umbilical is clearly a strong, well paced album, so where does it sit in Thou’s expansive discography? If you’re tackling their vast catalogue, you should really start out at their own website. It’s got no-questions-asked downloads of their LP catalogue and a thorough touring history all on one old fashioned static HTML page made in FrontPage 6.0 – a glorious bastion against enshittification. Weighed against their solo LPs, Umbilical is Thou going back to ‘normal’, providing their dependable songwriting and sound without re-invention or iteration. It’s consistently solid and sonically ideal, but after plenty of listens, it doesn’t stand shoulder to shoulder with their absolute best (which are Summit, Heathen, and Magus, in our books). Still, Umbilical is proof that Thou don’t miss. A tantalising thought is that the release of Magus came with three EPs – could Umbilical be the start of a new Thou era?
7/10
Umbilical drops tomorrow on the 31st May and can be ordered here: US (Sacred Bones Records), EU (Evil Greed).