US doom/sludge/drone veterans Thou unleashed new full-length album »Umbilical«; out now via Sacred Bones Records!

Baton Rouge, Louisiana based doom/sludge/drone veterans Thou are back with their new full-length album, entitled »Umbilical«, which was just released this Friday, May 31st, 2024 via Sacred Bones Records.

Tracklist:
01. Narcissist’s Prayer
02. Emotional Terrorist
03. Lonely Vigil
04. House Of Ideas
05. I Feel Nothing When You Cry
06. Unbidden Guest
07. I Return As Chained And Bound To You
08. The Promise
09. Panic Stricken, I Flee
10. Siege Perilous

Courtesy of Sacred Bones Records:

Thou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy categorization and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence. Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like EyeHateGod and Crowbar, Thou transcends genre boundaries, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of influences spanning from ’90s proto-grunge icons like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden (all of whom they’ve covered extensively) to the raw intensity of obscure ’90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc.

Their latest record »Umbilical«, Thou’s first full-length release of original music since their 2018 Sacred Bones debut »Magus«, is their firmest nod to the latter – a record filled with mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band’s aesthetic and political impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture Thou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality. That exploration takes thematic center on »Umbilical« and their self-assessment is as harsh as that of the world around them.

Photo by Reid Haithcock

“They’ve called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists, utilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the “Thou” experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a coherent and righteous worldview.

And yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments of deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when we yield before the Judging Eye – what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self beyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What would such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed?

This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction.” – Thou

Order »Umbilical« here: thou.bandcamp.com/album/umbilical

Recorded and mixed at Hightower Recording in December 2023 by James Whitten.
Mastered by James Plotkin.
Additional vocals on »The Promise« and »Panic Stricken« by Emily McWilliams.
Additional vocals on »Narcissist Prayer« by Derek Zimmer.
Additional vocals on »House Of Ideas« by Michael Berdan.

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