Rendon Singles

Believe it or not, some doom metal bands are hardly interested in trying to re-create Black Sabbath recordings from the '70s. The Baton Rouge, La., quintet Thou is now one case in point. True, the band once went through a Sabbath phase, with detuned guitars and Orange brand amplifiers (it even released an EP of Black Sabbath covers titled Through the Empires of Eternal Void in 2009). Yet this awesome collection of singles reveals more depth and originality. “The Song of Illuminate Darkness opens with 12 minutes of soupy, sludgy riffs that not even Tony Iommi could fathom. Frontman Bryan Funck’s demonic hiss has more in common with Norwegian black metal than anything by anyone who ever wore flared trousers onstage. It should be noted that Funck’s lyrics tend to be more intellectual than those of his influences or contemporaries. In the especially sinister-sounding “Fleurs De Mal,” he sneers against European imperialism, industrialists, and aristocrats. Funck similarly lambastes political patriarchy in the discordant “Shorties with MP40s.”