Thou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy
categorization and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence.
Though often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crowbar, Thou transcends genre boundaries, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of
influences spanning from '90s proto-grunge icons like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and
Soundgarden (all of whom they've covered extensively) to the raw intensity of obscure
'90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc.
Their latest record Umbilical, Thou's first full-length release of original music since
their 2018 Sacred Bones debut Magus, is their firmest nod to the latter - a record filled
with mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band's aesthetic and
political impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture
Thou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality.
That exploration takes thematic center on Umbilical and their self-assessment is as
harsh as that of the world around them.
They've called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists,
utilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the "Thou"
experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a
coherent and righteous worldview.
And yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments
of deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when
we yield before the Judging Eye-what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self
beyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What
would such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed?
This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of
capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to
practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and
malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise,
shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction.
