Bellowed groans ring out in a blackened marshland. Through the sludge comes a cadence of guitars—each one roaring with the darkest tones imaginable—over booming drums. Banners declaring free will and defiance lie in the muck, their creeds echoed by those haunting groans. This is Heathen, the latest release by doom metal band Thou.
“We are nothing!” vocalist Bryan Funck roars on “At the Foot of Mt. Driskill.” This doom-and-gloom statement defines much of Heathen’s tone; Thou’s droning performances chugs along an apocalyptic abyss of useless feelings and esoteric falsehoods. Yet, the thunder behind their songs suggests a greater defiance against that apocalypse, announcing declarations of “Free Will” and defiance (“In Defiance of the Sages”) as a darkness descends around them.
Thou’s defiance comes in the form of dynamic jams, most of which hover around the 10-minute mark as deep-throated vocals blast through a choir of muck-drenched guitars. The only break comes with “Immortality Dictates,” where guest vocalist Emily McWilliams provides a haunting coda against a wall of feedback that expresses a fading love (“And you’ll know that I love you”) that briefly pulls the listener out of eternal darkness, only to drop the listener back into Heathen’s finale—the “Ode to Physical Pain.”
Heathen clocks in at around 74 minutes. Experienced travelers through sludge metal’s mire will be able to handle that hefty length. In fact, it’d be recommended for those who love the genre—Heathen is an incredibly rewarding listen as a whole. But, 74 minutes can be imposing for any record, and Thou’s doom metal isn’t exactly the easiest music to digest for casual listeners.
This is the album’s only real setback, though. Funck’s throat-singing can be grating at times, but does little to take away from Thou’s torrential downpour of brilliant sludge. Heathen’s roar echoes Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath and Black Flag’s My War—two of rock 'n' roll’s gloomiest and harshest records—in ways that bring on those same feelings of doomed triumph and blaring defiance. While it may not be the easiest record for the more lighthearted listeners, Thou’s storied trip through Heathen’s bleak sludge is well worth the trek.
Rating: A-
