Thou - 'Summit'

Thou shalt doom, and doom often.

Baton Rouge Louisiana’s Thou kick it slow, salty ‘n slovenly here on Summit, the quartet’s third full length since their 2005 inception.

Summit is thick as molasses, pushing its way through narrow sonic sewers with a dirge guitar sound and the black metal-influenced rasp of vocalist Bryan Funck (yes, that’s his awesome real name). The end result of this six song effort is something which requires multiple listens to truly set in, but when it does the true meaning of Thou becomes clear: to overpower and overcome your senses via an over-the-top doom attack.

Summit—with its adventurous sense of meandering melody and progressive-length running time—might also have something to offer the discriminating post-rocker or indie hipster, as well, so thorough is the album’s thought process. There is clearly something for everyone here, but a track like “Grissecon” wallows in pristine misery like Cathedral in their Forest of Equilibrium prime, with an added, blasphemous black metal touch for good measure.

Again, this album isn’t easy listening by any means; some work is required by the listener to truly trudge through the density here on Summit. For those brave enough for the challenge, however, Thou delivers enough creepy chills and thrills to level a forest of lesser sludge/doom pretenders.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.