The powerful Louisiana sludge/doom band Thou dropped a surprise yesterday… the first in a series of releases that the band have planned as a lead-up to their first full-length (entitled Magus) since 2014’s Heathen. The lack of any advance promotion or track streams isn’t that unusual for this band, but it seems to be a phenomenon that’s growing more widespread.
This new album-length EP, The House Primordial, is something of a departure from Thou’s main line of sound. Because you can obviously listen to it now, I don’t have a thorough review for you, just some reactions based on one play-through (which was enough to make me buy it). You could think of it as a preview of what you’ll be getting yourselves into if you choose to listen.
The album is an alternating sequence of movements, each one bleeding into the next. The first track, and every other track from that point forward, consist of “instrumental” pieces, without drums (except for the ritualistic “Birthright”) and with ambient electronic elements more prevalent within them than stringed instrumentation. These unsettling compositions convey moods that range from haunting to nightmarish.
The tracks that come in between these ambient pieces vary (somewhat), but all are slow, massively distorted, staggeringly powerful, and thoroughly desolate. Each of them is titanically heavy, and each is mind-scarring in its overall impact. The vocals, as always, are incinerating in their intensity. The apotheosis of these progressions, the closing track “Malignant Horror”, is petrifying in its destructive force and in its atmosphere of undiluted terror.
The combined effect of these seamlessly integrated alternating movements is to sink the listener into a trance-like state, a waking dream of despair and death.
The House Primordial is available here through Robotic Empire, and it’s on iTunes and other streaming services as well:
https://roboticempire.bandcamp.com/album/thou-the-house-primordial
6 Responses to “THOU: “THE HOUSE PRIMORDIAL””
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Really only five songs SAD!
It’s not a new full length, but it seams like they will release a new full length later on based on their official statement:
The first in a series of EPs leading up to the Magus “full length.”
Are you calling it an EP based on the presence of the ambient tracks? Or maybe Thou has called it an EP for that reason? It’s long enough to be classified as an album….
I guess, exactly as you say, Thou calls it an EP because of the ambient tracks and also to make it clear it’s not the full length follow up to Heathen. Since it’s clearly not. This is the full text from the email I got from their record label (the part about the great reviews is quite hilarious):
Robotic Empire just released the digital version of a new Thou EP called The House Primordial. This is the first in a series of releases we’ll have over the next few months culminating in our full length Magus. We’ll share all the details of our backroom scheming by the end of the month. The new EP is currently on all the streaming services as well as our bandcamp site, and I’ll probably upload a ZIP to our website later today. The great reviews are already pouring in!
“For the first time ever, I’m not interested in a Thou album.”
“House Primordial is definitely… underwhelming.”
HAHA! That’s great — and thanks for sharing this info. I’ll modify my post accordingly.
Also available as a name your price dl from the thou bandcamp.