International death doom metal collective Thūn return with their fourth opus »IV: Changeling«; first single »The Absurd Duty« streaming now!

UK/US based death doom metal band Thūn has announced their fourth opus, »IV: Changeling«, which will be released on November 6th, 2026 via Eat Lead and Die Music.

Listen to the album’s first single »The Absurd Duty« below!

Tracklist:
01. Cosmic Fortress
02. The Absurd Duty
03. Heirophant
04. In The Hours Awake
05. Changeling
06. Hunter Down

Courtesy of Ironclad Metal PR:

International metal collective THŪN returns with its fourth album, »Changeling«, to be released on the 6th of November via Eat Lead and Die Music.

Featuring Jon Higgs (guitar/vocals; Monsterworks, Moose Cult, The Living Fields) alongside James Knoerl (drums; Aviations, Gargoyl), THŪN once again welcomes Karl Sanders of Nile, who provides guest lead guitar on all tracks.

On »Changeling«, THŪN continues to carve out its own peculiar take on extreme(ish) metal: epic death metal spliced with discordant doom, but with a clear foundation in old-school Sabbath and Priest influences.

THŪN remains an international, virtual collaboration. With the musicians based in the UK and US, each member handled his own recording and production before the material was brought together for final mixing by Jon, followed by Dan Swanö’s masterful touch at Unisound; with an emphasis on preserving dynamics. The loudness war is one fight we’d rather lose.

Jon says:

“This album has been a long time coming. The drums were recorded at the same time as the third album, at a guess about four years ago, and it has been hiding in the shadows ever since. With a half dozen other musical projects on the boil, I just needed to find the time to knuckle down and get lyrics and guitars finished. Luckily, Karl was also off tour and there was an open window for him to smash out the leads. It’s great for this to finally see the light of day.”

THŪN (or THUN for the sake of web optimisation) began as an outlet for new music created during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020/21. Guitarist/vocalist Jon had an enormous backlog of material that was not going to make it out into the world in the name of his “main band” Monsterworks anytime soon, simply due to restricted travel and inaccessibility to studios or jam spaces. So the only solution was to find new ways to remotely record and produce the music. Jon is based just north of London, UK.

The first man on board was James Knoerl on drums. Being a professional session drummer, he had the gear set up and ready to go. James is based in Manhattan – NYC.

But, who to play lead?

About 15 years ago Jon met Karl Sanders for a guitar lesson before a Nile gig in London. Since Karl’s name popped up after a bit of research looking for session players, he seemed like a logical choice given the earlier, albeit tenuous, connection. Karl liked the material and particularly appreciated the doominess, being a little different to his usual projects.

THŪN was a concept based band intended to be Bull Elephant adjacent (another band in the Eat Lead and Die roster) with vaguely cosmic horror mixed with ecological destruction themes; however, it has evolved slightly outside that remit now. The fourth album »Changeling« is not really a concept album at all, although if you squint hard enough there is probably a common thread running through it in line with the original mission statement.

Words and music by Jon Higgs.
Produced and mixed by Jon Higgs.
Mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound.
Logo and layout by Jon Higgs.

THŪN are:
Jon Higgs – Guitars, Vocals
James Knoerl – Drums
Karl Sanders – Guest Lead Guitar

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well