Umbilical

Album review

Thou haven't released a solo album since their tower-crumbling 2018 full-length, Magus, but they haven't been slacking. In that time, the Baton Rouge sludgesters released collaborative LP's with Mizmor and Emma Ruth Rundle, and two different covers albums, including a 2020 batch of Nirvana homages. Now, they've issued Umbilical, a 10-song set of their own material that just might be—and this says a lot given the breadth of their catalog—their definitive release.

Every writeup about Thou's material is required to mention their roots in hardcore and anarcho-punk music, which has typically had more influence on their attitude than their actual sound. Umbilical isn't going to incite any circle pits, but songs like "I Feel Nothing When You Cry" and "The Promise" are brisker and more urgent than Thou's usual fare. The former, in particular, moves at an infernal gallop that sounds like Sepultura were literally on fire while writing their death-groove classic, Chaos A.D.

Even the slower tracks are imbued with the same combustible aggression. Opener "Narcissist's Prayer" is profoundly decimating, with guitars that scald like hot coals on flesh, and a jugular-slicing vocal performance from Bryan Funck, who screeches the command, "It's time to die/ So die," during the track's barbaric outro dirge. Thou have never sounded more violently heavy than they do on these cuts, but they still make room for clever songwriting maneuvers. There's a part in the middle of "House of Ideas" where the drums drop out and the guitars keep chugging; the distorted feedback groans in the background like a snoring bear, and instead of then coming in with a roiling breakdown, a yearning solo slices through the trudge. Only a band of Thou's pedigree would be able to finesse such an unexpected moment of staggering beauty into an otherwise grim outpouring of homicidal sludge. © Eli Enis/Qobuz