I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 5, 2018] Thou

I was unfamiliar with Thou before this show.  Reviews were pretty interesting so I was really intrigued to hear them.

Gregory Heaney from All Music wrote “the band’s sound blends the shuddering heaviness of doom with the oppressive atmospherics of black metal, giving the band a monolithic sound that feels, at times, inescapable.”

And nothing could be more accurate.  Thou are loud.  Really loud.  I have seen Sunn O))) who are possibly the loudest band on the planet and Thou was more inescapable.  And I did not find it enjoyable, possibly because I was unprepared.

Musically the band is rather interesting.  They play heavy doom metal, but they have complex (and heavy) chords and riffs–sometimes with the bassist playing counterpoint.  Their riffs were slow, but the notes they played were not always the obvious choice.  

I also enjoyed how calm and chill everyone in the band was while playing this brutally heavy music.  The bassist in particular hardly ever moved (and was wearing a heavy sweater).

The disappointment for me came when the singer started singing.  I didn’t realize that he was a growler/screamer.  To me it just didn’t work with the music.  Complex and thoughtful riffs deserve lyrics that are at least audible.   So it was brutally heavy and low with no vocal to guide us through the fog.

The singer also often faced away from us which was just kind of weird.

Obviously this is just my taste.  Thou has been around for over ten years putting out all kinds of singles and covers and what have you.  Screaming Females like them enough to have them open for them.  So I was bummed that I couldn’t enjoy it more.

The one thing that I (and the people near me) were amused by was that the singer came out in a windbreaker zipped all the way up.  After the first song (their songs are about 7 minutes long), he removed the jacket, and a sweater revealing a long-sleeved shirt.  After another song he removed that shirt to reveal his Britney Spears T-shirt.  How many layers does one need for a concert?

I appreciated that the band has a sense of humor, despite the doom and gloom.  They didn’t really talk to us but the singer and the guitarist on the far side (whose picture I never got because it was so dark) spent a lot of time between songs talking about the new band they thought up called Sub Dude imagining what kind of music it would be and what their logo would be (a rat with board shorts?).  Is it possible they never heard of The Subdudes from New Orleans?  (Thou is from Baton Rouge after all), or were they just messing with those guys.

So it was intense.  It hurt my head. And after 40 or so minutes and 4 or 5 songs, I was relieved when it was over.  And yet, from every review I’ve read, that may be the intended experience.