What lurks at its buried heart, as with much of Thou’s work, is a surprising positivity that’s belied by the ugliness and raw visceral spite that surrounds it – this work is, for all its crushing weight, effortlessly uplifting, cathartic and even motivational. Another vital release by one of the most vital bands in extreme music.
‘Magus’ CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Inward
2. My Brother Caliban
3. Transcending Dualities
4. The Changeling Prince
5. Sovereign Self
6. Divine Will
7. In the Kingdom of Meaning
8. Greater Invocation of Disgust
9. Elimination Rhetoric
10. The Law Which Compels
11. Supremacy
The Review:
Sometimes art can be a daunting prospect, a towering, inaccessible edifice of grandiose scope. It can cow the unprepared and deter the unwary. Think of those who have meant to read Melville but balked at the density of Moby Dick, have longed to delve into the canon of a serial drama but are paralysed into inaction by the sheer number of episodes.
This is where we find ourselves with Baton Rouge’s premier doomed out sludge slingers Thou. Since their formation in 2005 they’ve exhibited a blistering work ethic that’s seen them churn out (according to Metal Archives) forty one separate demos, splits, compilations, EPs, singles and full lengths (that’s an average of around three releases a year, for you metal maths fans). Four of these have been released in the last nine months alone.And it isn’t a simple case of quantity of quality either; each Thourelease, hell, every Thou song is heaving under the weight of more riffs than most bands can conjure up in their entire life span. For the neophyte, picking a place to start would seem futile. Latest full length ‘Magus’ might not be the most accessible foothold, weighing in at over seventy minutes long, but as a pure distillation of what the five piece can do, it stands shoulder to shoulder among the best of their oeuvre.
Opener ‘Inward’ lulls with a false sense of security, the melancholic creeping notes taking on a sub-black metal lilt before it opens up into a stately, processional main riff. Alternating between this grander section and moments of claustrophobic, tunnel dredging chug, it’s a velvet wrapped sledgehammer of restless density. ‘My Brother Caliban’ offers brief respite with tension building electronics before ‘Transcending Dualities’ drags us down into the choking waters of doom, guitars shifting and squirming through cracks in the dense chord onslaught of the instrumental trawl.
‘The Changeling Prince’ is fittingly regal, with lush, majestic chord progressions waging pitched battle with rolling chugs, Bryan Funck bringing things crashing down with his scalded shriek of “behind the mask, another mask” ad infinitum. ‘Sovereign Self’ picks up the pace, gentle guitars and vulnerable vocals suddenly exploding with a jarring shift into thick riffs and tribal tom work. ‘Diving Will’ drifts with dreamlike, ethereal vocals before ‘In The Kingdom Of Meaning’swings in with lurching, meandering layers that build to an inexorable climb.
‘Greater Invocation Of Disgust’ drips with scuzzy, moody bass, uneasily shifting on the back of an infectious drum groove and squealing guitar protests. ‘Elimination Rhetoric’ stabs with atonal guitars, swaying into a hazy solo before buckling under its own weight into a bloated chug.
By the time you reach the zenith of sprawling closer ‘Supremacy’, all but the most hardened aural pilgrims will doubtless be suffering from ‘riff fatigue’. ‘Magus’ is a gauntlet, a crust of straining musculature beneath which an endless chasm of nuance and reward lurks. You could stay too long in its stygian depths and risk madness, or skim the surface and come away satisfied. What lurks at its buried heart, as with much of Thou’swork, is a surprising positivity that’s belied by the ugliness and raw visceral spite that surrounds it – this work is, for all its crushing weight, effortlessly uplifting, cathartic and even motivational. Another vital release by one of the most vital bands in extreme music.
Each album is demonstrably different while maintaining a common thread so no record is out of place within the discography. Stylistically, I would say that this is closer to “Symmetry...” than “Lifesblood”, and perhaps is a little closer to the band's earliest material, but at the end of the day: it's Crowbar. Where this album sits in the band's discography will only be fully revealed over time, but I can say that it has got better and better with each listen. What a band. Appreciate them while they are here.
“The Serpent Only Lies” CD//DD//LP track listing:
01. Falling While Rising 02. Plasmic And Pure 03. I Am The Storm 04. Surviving The Abyss 05. The Serpent Only Lies 06. The Enemy Beside You 07. Embrace The Light 08. On Holy Ground 09. Song Of The Dunes 10. As I Heal
The Review:
Crowbar are 100% reliable. They have never made a bad album. They have never gone commercial, gone thrash, gone death, gone hardcore or deviated in any way from their uniquely satisfying sound.
Generally regarded as sludge, and New Orleans sludge at that, the band have been operating at the highest level of quality for a quarter of a century now. Kirk is still at the helm and now Todd Strange is back on bass (Kirk plays on the album) after a career in something non-metal related. The album, as per, mixes riffs of the heaviest weight (“Falling While Rising”) with faster bursts of hardcore pace (“I am The Storm”). Most people familiar with the band have a favourite Crowbaralbum (some go with “Odd Fellows Rest”, some the self titled, or “Broken Glass”etc. etc.) but I can reliably inform you that this one could be a contender on anyone's top spot.
The last record, “Symmetry In Black”, was a tour de force: this is just as good. They really haven't put a foot wrong on this release. The doomy and spacey vibe of “Surviving The Abyss” is a welcome shift in dynamics and recalls “When Planets Collide” (and other tracks) from the bands formidable canon.
Operating, as they do, in a field of one brings its own challenges. The band have to find ways of making things interesting; the line up has always been in flux, but whether this is by design or default I don't know. Each album is demonstrably different while maintaining a common thread so no record is out of place within the discography. Stylistically, I would say that this is closer to “Symmetry...” than “Lifesblood”, and perhaps is a little closer to the band's earliest material, but at the end of the day: it's Crowbar. The title track is as vicious and melancholic as their best work, with Windstein's voice still a unique selling point.
The album is another focused and concise release; ten tracks of similar length gives the right playing time for enjoyment and immersibility (running out of actual words, so making them up!) and each track goes by at a fair clip. “The Enemy Beside You” is another hardcore/sludge hybrid which spits some serious bile. Kirk is in his 50's now, but isn't showing any sign of mellowing. Since leaving Down, he seems to have re-focused on Crowbarand brings some huge riffs and vocals to tracks such as “On Holy Ground” down the back stretch of the record. “Song of the Dunes” is even more impressive, with a rather creepy atmosphere added to the mix.
By the time of “As I heal”, the record had absolutely won me over as yet another sterling piece of work from Crowbar. Where this album sits in the band's discography will only be fully revealed over time, but I can say that it has got better and better with each listen. What a band. Appreciate them while they are here.
Hi, you wanna know about us?
