Thou – Magus album review

Sludgy Louisianians Thou dredge up the voice of unrest with Magus

Thou Magus album cover

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Magus

Thou Magus album cover

1. Inward
2. My Brother Caliban
3. Transcending Dualities
4. The Changeling Prince
5. Sovereign Self
6. Divine Will
7. The Kingdom Of Meaning
8. Greater Invocation Of Disgust
9. Elimination Rhetoric
10. The Law Which Compels
11. Supremacy

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Baton Rouge’s Thou have preceded the release of their first full-length since 2014’s Heathen with three EPs, each bringing to the fore different core elements of the sludge band’s sound: grunge, acoustic guitars, droning rhythms. All those elements are present here. 

Vocalist Bryan Funck is a deadly force and his voice is laced with anguish throughout a record that finds itself in a state of constant turmoil. Highlighting this flux is The Changeling Prince’s fuzzed-out guitars, which gradually spin out into lighter motions and add glimmers of hope to a track that carries the weight of the world on its shoulders. 

Thou constantly shift between primal rage, a sense of not belonging and anger at the modern world and on Magus they handle those emotions with a pure, unfiltered look at what makes us human and all the detritus that comes in its wake.

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