Thou – Magus

Old school rhythm, new school screams

There is very little that has been unexplored in the metal world, but with as long as the genre has been on a world stage there are bound to be those who take certain liberties and create something unique. In the case of Thou, they have managed to take the classic rhythm style akin to artists like Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath with their slow and dreary approach and combine it with the ever powerful fry screaming technique that has become widely known in black metal circles today. What Thou has done by mixing the two styles created an atmosphere throughout the album that is powerful, foreboding and downright evil sounding.

Magus starts and ends with a 10-minute epic titled “Inward” and “Supremacy” respectively. What they manage to accomplish with these 2 tracks is a leadup into the album that comes on strong and transitions into the rest of the material seamlessly as well as a strong finish that comes to a climactic end. No specific points of the album in between really stand out, but that is the beauty of this type of composition, it simply flows from one song to the next more resembling a single song spanning over an hour than an album with 11 individual tracks.

As a whole, Magus is an incredible release that is easy to digest in one sitting. It isn’t overbearing by any means, and its unsuspecting nature catches the listener off guard when they get to the end and realize how much time has actually passed, as it is very easy to let it fade into the background and play all the way through. The slow tempo mixed with screaming vocals adds an element of depth that is incredibly gratifying and though one wouldn’t normally think so, the two styles meld together rather well.