Jump to content

PO Now: Thou and Emma Ruth Rundle - May Our Chambers Be Full (10/30/20)


rooks
 Share

Recommended Posts

1 minute ago, JRHews said:

Jumping off this to say that I get why people like Thou, but they are just not for me. I should preface and say that sludge has and always will be one of my favorite genres, and I was super into doom in the last 00's/early 10's, but damn I just think they are so boring. Summit and Heather were average at best for me, but everything else has been a snooze fest, and I can't understand why. I suppose I'm more into the atmospheric side of sludge, and the funeral/death side of doom, so it just doesn't click with me? 

Eh, to each his own. I've dabbled in the genres for years but just 2-3 months ago had a huge metal revival and really dove down into depths of genres I never gave a real chance. I liked a few funeral/doom/stoner type bands over the years and touched on the more cross-over bands like Deafheaven/Holy Fawn etc. but really dove into Stoner/Doom/Sludge/Black/Death etc. in the last few months. Thou is not my typical band, especially with vocals that harsh ALL the time. 

 

I can sort of understand someone thinking they are boring at times, but I'm surprised you feel that way given you mentioned funeral doom... but the more thought I put into it, maybe it's because they don't seem to hit a lot of peaks/highs/climaxes(?) Like funeral doom is even slower, but it's typically building up to some cathartic moment, where Thou is just catharsis the whole time, for me.

 

They do the whole thing right, imo. Their art is great, their vinyl packages are great, they're good people, do cool releases with lots of labels, put out more content than anyone else (and quality content, these covers albums aren't like garage recordings of them practicing).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, holyvacantsholyhell said:

Idk, thou makes great tunes. I just think it’s fucky that the vocalist said in an interview that he thinks one day people will look back on non vegans like they look at racists and homophobes today

Haha they are very outspoken on beliefs/politics - or at very least the singer is.  I may not agree with everything they say/think/do but they can use their platform to communicate their beliefs if they want, it won't affect my enjoyment of their music as long as it's not actively hurting other people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, rooks said:


0d0a3doi_main_0_1200x1200.jpg

.... but I'm surprised you feel that way given you mentioned funeral doom... but the more thought I put into it, maybe it's because they don't seem to hit a lot of peaks/highs/climaxes(?) Like funeral doom is even slower, but it's typically building up to some cathartic moment

I'd say that's a fair assessment. I'd also say I really don't like stoner metal/doom.

A lot of late 00's funeral doom has absolutely crushing climaxes. Ea, Arcana Coelestia, Ahab ect are all great examples. And I love the raw vocals in sludge like Celeste, The Ocean.

I think I need to just revisit the whole discog at this point and see if anything has changed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, JRHews said:

I'd say that's a fair assessment. I'd also say I really don't like stoner metal/doom.

A lot of late 00's funeral doom has absolutely crushing climaxes. Ea, Arcana Coelestia, Ahab ect are all great examples. And I love the raw vocals in sludge like Celeste, The Ocean.

I think I need to just revisit the whole discog at this point and see if anything has changed. 

I really support that idea.  I have a friend who’s been a devout Thou fan for years and I’ve always thought they were... okay.  I’d say sometime in the last 3 or so years I really clicked with them after revisiting a lot of their stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, CatsNJazz said:

Where should I start to dive in on both of these artists? I've heard a few Thou tracks before and I watched their tiny desk performance and liked what I heard

Rooks can probably speak a little better to this as a newer fan that deep-dived into their catalog just recently, but I think chronologically is a good choice.  Tyrant is a great debut and the string of albums that follow it really cement their sound before they experiment with the EPs and covers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, CatsNJazz said:

Where should I start to dive in on both of these artists? I've heard a few Thou tracks before and I watched their tiny desk performance and liked what I heard

 

13 minutes ago, Derek™ said:

Rooks can probably speak a little better to this as a newer fan that deep-dived into their catalog just recently, but I think chronologically is a good choice.  Tyrant is a great debut and the string of albums that follow it really cement their sound before they experiment with the EPs and covers.

Yeah, I'm no expert but I've found my listening of Thou really spread across all of their discography, where typically I'll zero in on 1 album from an artist and just play it to death.   

 

I think everything they put out is great and quality, but the 5 main-line albums still retain that "little extra" feeling and stand head and shoulders above the rest of the really strong discography. Tyrant, Peasant, Summit, Heathen, Magus are all great, and chrono or reverse-chrono are both fine orders. I tend to gravitate to Tyrant, Magus, and Peasant in that order -- but that's personal taste and preference will play a big part in that.

 

The biggest hurdle (for me, initially) in their discography is volume and not knowing the categories/context:

1. 5 main-line albums (Tyrant, Peasant, Summit, Heathen, Magus)

2. The  digital compilations of singles/covers over the years (Algiers, Rendon, Oakland)

3. The most recent two releases, 1 all Nirvana (Blessings of the Highest Order) and 1 a mix Shellac/Pearl Jam/Sabbath and more (A Primer of Holy Words)

4. The 3 EPs leading up to Magus - each is a different style, all full-length as far as playtime. Experimental/Drone (House Primordial), acoustic/clean vocals (Inconsolable), and more in-line with Magus' final style (Rhea Sylvia)

5. Everything else - Single tracks, splits, covers etc. Too many to go through everything - they are all quality but 1-4 is where I spend 98% of my listening. (Edit: Even in this "everything else" I'm positive there are gems I just haven't dusted off enough yet. The split albums with The Body are well regarded as far as I know, for example. I'm just not a The Body fan so haven't made my way through this quite yet.)

Edited by rooks
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Long time Thou stan, personally I visit the Tyrant/Peasant era the least. I would say the Algiers comp covers a good range of years where they were really growing as a band. If you just want a quick  (ha!) Selection of songs I would say: New Orleans is a Hole, Skinwalker, Helen Hill, Voices in the Wilderness, and Bonnet Carre. 

If you dig that stuff then just go to the Heathen LP which is the culmination of everything that came before. If you dig that, then spin Magus, by then you should be off to the races. For a bonus, check out their blessings of the highest order comp which is all Nirvana covers and a good initiation to their sound with a familiar source.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, wesisthebastard said:

Ugh, I've been down with Thou since Tyrant came out and it's the only band that I've got everything for. This Ultra Diehard edition is going to evade me. I HATE subscription stuff.

If you go in head first, I’ll take everything else off your hands for $30 each. Lemme know 😎

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, morfiend said:

I’ve been listening to both cover albums that were dropped on Bandcamp a ton lately. I ended up ordering the die hard black. 

The Nirvana one wasn't really resonating with me, although I gave it a full listen today and a couple of the tracks were really hitting the mark for me.  That said -- I don't think I have EVER listened to a cover by a band more than 2-3 times on purpose... and I cannot stop listening to the Primer of Holy Words comp.

 

And I don't listen to Nirvana or any of the bands they covered, except Sabbath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, rooks said:

The Nirvana one wasn't really resonating with me, although I gave it a full listen today and a couple of the tracks were really hitting the mark for me.  That said -- I don't think I have EVER listened to a cover by a band more than 2-3 times on purpose... and I cannot stop listening to the Primer of Holy Words comp.

 

And I don't listen to Nirvana or any of the bands they covered, except Sabbath.

I’m a huge Nirvana fan and I had about half of those covers already on different comps but it’s so nice to have all of them together on one release. I don’t usually care that much for covers but Thou does them right. I bought the other cover album for the AIC, Soundgarden and Sabbath covers but the whole thing is great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I became obsessed with Thou a little over 10 years ago when I first heard ‘Fucking chained...’ from Tyrant. At the same time I was just getting into vinyl and made the decision to get a copy of every release they put out on wax (yikes!). Proud to say I’m still on that mission a decade later. So I’m very familiar with their whole discography. I’d recommend just starting from the beginning. I love everything they’ve put out though. Hard to think of a more prolific band in the past decade.

 

Also, always go see them live if you can...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kinda understand the dillema and complaints regarding the handling of this preorder, high prices of the die hard edition, no info on the differences from standard one or the pressing numbers, but on the other hand, I was personally so eagerly waiting for any info regarding this project, then when the song dropped and I pressed play, i preordered the die hard coloured veriosn before the track ended...

 

best song this year for me so far, (when it hit 2.45min mark, i almost passed out from happiness;) ) , so from the first listen I knew i needed this vinyl in the coolest version there is...(I wasnt taking the subscription version into account, as the price + shipping to Europe would be madness).

 

There was no room for calculations or overthinking it ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist