Thou have announced a new album, Umbilical, out May 31st via Sacred Bones. The sludge metal band has also offered up the lead single “I Feel Nothing When You Cry.”
Known for their tectonic sludge-doom, the NOLA outfit speeds things up on its latest track. A propulsive groove sets the pace and locks in, though it is slathered in textures of feedback and harsh howling vocals. If there was an accessible punk song buried under there, Thou — never one for compromises — manage to rough it up beyond recognition.
Umbilical will be the group’s third full-length on Sacred Bones, following its 2020 collaborative effort with Emma Ruth Rundle, May Our Chambers Be Full. The band shared the following artist statement regarding Umbilical:
“They’ve called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists, utilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the ‘Thou’ experiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a coherent and righteous worldview.
And yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments of deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when we yield before the Judging Eye–what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self beyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What would such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed?
This record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of capitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to practicalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and malingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, shuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction.”
Thou also unveiled a handful of live dates, including a Palestine benefit show on Saturday (April 13th) at the Fred Hampton Free Store in New Orleans. The band will also be heading on a short tour of Australia and New Zealand with Full of Hell in August.
As for physical releases of Umbilical, Sacred Bones is issuing a single LP that also includes a 7″ featuring the tracks “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “Unbidden Guest.” Digital versions and CD copies feature the full unabridged 10-song tracklist including both “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and “Unbidden Guest.” Pre-orders are available via Sacred Bones.
You can stream “I Feel Nothing When You Cry” and see the album art and tracklist below.
Umbilical Artwork:
Umbilical Tracklist:
01. Narcissist’s Prayer
02. Emotional Terrorist
03. Lonely Vigil
04. House of Ideas
05. I Feel Nothing When You Cry
06. Unbidden Guest
07. I Return as Chained and Bound to You
08. The Promise
09. Panic Stricken, I Flee
10. Siege Perilous