Review: Thou, "Magus"

Thou- Magus
Stream and buy the LP here.

Thou are a five-piece doom metal band who have been recognized as one of the few remaining metal bands to really live off the original DIY-punk ethos. This is shown in various forms, from all their splits to adding shows on tours that allow younger fans to see them if the other show in their city is age-restricted. Sonically, however, these guys are about as agonizingly heavy as doom can get. It’s filled with a dense atmosphere of dread and gut-wrenching screamed vocals. It’s been about four years since their last LP Heathen, which was one of my favorite metal LPs of that year, and Thou decided to do the unthinkable: release three 30+ minute EPs over the course of three months. Each of these three EPs showcase a different side of Thou. The House Primordial was a droned-out mix of sludge and harsh noise. Inconsolable saw Thou take on dark-folk, and the last of the EPs, Rhea Sylvia, was a bit of a “return to form” for Thou. With these three EPs out, Thou decided to take the extra step and release Magus.
​
    If there’s one thing that lets you know this is a Thou record, it’s how absolutely punishing it is. It’s crazy to imagine that, on top of releasing music in this vein for well over a decade, they’ve released 90+ minutes of music within the three months leading to this LP, and yet they still come through with a 75-minute monster that feels as fresh as ever in both sound and atmosphere. The opening riff to “Inward” welcomes you into Magus’ house of suffering, a 10-minute opener that lets you know that it’s not going to stop. You will find moments of beauty subtly woven into the brooding doom assault, as well as t tracks like “Sovereign Self” and “In the Kingdom of Meaning,” which feature some of the most elegant clean vocals I’ve heard in this genre. Provided by Emily McWilliams, they perfectly contrast the Bryan Funck’s hellish screeches who sounds, more than ever, like his suffering is absolutely unbearable.

Check out lyrics like “The one locked in the carapace of frustration and loathing,” and the transparent vitriol of a line like “We’ve got nothing but hatred.” Alongside these lyrics of absolute despair is the occasional silver lining to these dark, noisy clouds, such as “To breathe life into the organ of hope...” We also see Thou take on some topics of social relevance, such as on “Transcending Dualities,” which tackles gender dysphoria - sometimes bluntly, with one lyric reading “Our gender is disorder.” The song goes through a journey of “limitless choice.” “Elimination Rhetoric” deals with fighting the patriarchy: “Awake, awake from the misogyny-fueled fever dream...” It’s beautiful that amid Thou’s existential dread, we can still encounter tracks with a very strong message about deconstructing toxic societal norms.

The three EPs Thou released prior to this bleed into Magus in one form or another. Rhea Sylvia pretty much lays out the blueprint of Thou’s sound, showing us the doomy, heavy, nihilistic band of their last four LPs. While the cleaner vocals have been a part of Thou’s discography for some time, much of the melodies they provide, as well as the acoustic sections spread across the LP on tracks like “Sovereign Self,” sound as if they were ripped straight from Inconsolable. The three “interlude” tracks, “My Brother Caliban,” “Divine Will,” and “The Law Which Compels,” reproduce the dark, droney, noisy sounds we heard last on The House Primordial. The best elements of each EPs are here in top punishing form.

As much as I dug Heathen, and despite Thou’s knack for hypnotic guitarwork, I felt like there were moments where it ran a bit dry during it’s 75-minute run. While there surely are moments of Magus that could have probably used a bit more going on in the instrumental, specifically on “Greater Invocation of Disgust,” this LP’s is more consistent and better-paced over the course of its runtime. Even “Greater Invocation of Disgust” is pretty decent in itself, its only issue that it does nothing out of the norm for Thou, and that it’s followed by the standout “Elimination Rhetoric.”

All of this leads up to the grand finale of the LP: the 11-minute epic “Supremacy.” “The Law Which Compels” builds up to itsa melancholic onslaught of doom. Lyricall, it’s a bit ironic: while it does address the idea of becoming larger than life, it’s more interested in exploring the downsides of such a mentality. It ends the LP with the phrase “Remain alone” for a reason: victory isolates us. Through all the pain and suffering, victory only leads to a different kind of pain, a point shoved in our faces as we reach the outro of this track which progressively gets noisier and heavier, leaving us with a reminder that this dread is not going to leave anytime soon. Thou won’t let it.

VERDICT: Thou show us triumph in depression and vice versa on their latest 75-minute colossus. Magus is a must-listen for fans who fancy doom and gloom in their music.