Thou - Summit

A few years ago I saw a band made up of dudes probably not even in their 20s yet from Lousiana in some tiny venue that's escaping my name somewhere in the city or Brooklyn. The venue wasn't completely packed but there was definitely a crowd. The dude at the merch table before the show was a wiry not too tall, not too short friendly guy with a Lousiana accent. Seemed nice/normal enough. Then the band started and that guy walked to the ground in front of the stage and grabbed the microphone. He announced that they were Thou from Baton Rouge and the shit hit the fan. The singer turned around, hunched over into this bizarre fucking Smeagol contortion facing the stage and the band dropped a fucking nuclear note. About an hour later I had one of my new favorite bands.

Thou's brand of completely fucked, crawling punk bayou sludge, drenched in raw crude oil and growing from the destruction of a world slammed by the most brutal storms on earth multiple times every year is definitely one of the most interesting, heavy, relentless flavors of doom around. In a genre plagued by repetition (not just of the same chord over and over again) and me-too bands, Thou is a glowing fucking beacon of rad. They're one of the few that manages to not just incorporate, but expand upon their many and varied influences (Can you say Minor Threat, Mayhem, and Sabbath) as opposed to so many other bands that just re-hash, the result being something that's never boring and always heavy.

This new album shows a constantly maturing Thou with fucking blastbeats, acoustic breakdowns (not cheesedick lame shit, promise) and even a "tasteful" (if that's fucking possible) incorporation of some of the less annoying traits of Black Metal. Frankly, this ain't yer average Vitus coverband wannabes.



Thou is so fucking good that even the dudes at NPR got soggytrowed when they heard their new album "Summit". This band is definitely one of the best doom/sludge bands currently performing.

If you've never seen this band live, stop what you're fucking doing and go find a show.





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