Thou – “The Changeling Prince”

Thou – “The Changeling Prince”

The Louisiana blackened-sludge doom-droners Thou are flooding the market in 2018, making their already-labyrinthine canon harder to follow than the motherfucking Marvel Universe. They opened May with the surprise release of a 10-song EP called The House Primordial. This was (understandably) misconstrued by many to be a new album — the proper follow-up to 2014 behemoth Heathen. NOPE. The band clarified: The House Primordial was just an appetizer; the main course — an LP called Magus — would arrive shortly thereafter.

But wait that’s not all. There would also, apparently, be two more EPs dropping ahead of Magus. In the band’s own words:

With the impending release of our fifth full length Magus, we have decided to take a different approach [than past Thou records] and release three EPs ahead of the full length, all of which are all a complete sonic departure from the album and from each other…

The first of these EPs is an ambient/noise, Supplicate-engineered, droned-out, The Body-worshipping, knuckle-dragger called The House Primordial

The second EP is a collection of bleak, acoustic and quieter songs called Inconsolable and is now available for preorder from Community Records. We will begin streaming this record on our bandcamp on June 1, and the physical release will be available on June 29.

The final EP is a melodic grunge, Alice in Chains homage called Rhea Sylvia, and includes Thou versions of Matthew Thudium’s solo works. It is now available for preorder from Deathwish Inc. with the physical and digital release available on July 27.

We clear on all that? Wonderful. So you’ve already got The House Primordial. And today, you get:

1. Inconsolable in full.

2. The first single from Rhea Sylvia, called “The Only Law.”

3. The first single from Magus, called “The Changeling Prince.”

I’m dropping those embeds below in reverse-chronological order, largely because that’s how I’d rank ‘em in terms of my own anticipation for each. So far, I’ve only spun “The Changeling Prince” and it sounded great on first listen. At some point today I’ll get to the rest, and I encourage you to do the same. Here’s all the stuff you need.

The House Primordial is out now on Raw Sugar, Inconsolable is out tomorrow on Community Records, Rhea Sylvia is out 7/27 on Deathwish, and Magus is out 8/31 on Sacred Bones. That slate comprises 35 songs total, so pace yourself, man!

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