{"product_id":"thou-umbilical","title":"Thou - Umbilical","description":"\u003cp\u003eThou has always been a force of raw energy and unapologetic dissent, defying easy \u003cspan\u003ecategorization and challenging listeners to confront the complexities of existence. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThough often lumped in with New Orleans sludge bands like Eyehategod and Crowbar, Thou transcends genre boundaries, drawing inspiration from a diverse array of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einfluences spanning from '90s proto-grunge icons like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSoundgarden (all of whom they've covered extensively) to the raw intensity of obscure \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'90s DIY hardcore punk found on labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, and Crimethinc. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTheir latest record Umbilical, Thou's first full-length release of original music since \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003etheir 2018 Sacred Bones debut Magus, is their firmest nod to the latter - a record filled \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewith mosh-ready riffs, heavy breakdowns and scathing vocals. The band's aesthetic and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003epolitical impulses have always been punk and like anyone embroiled in the subculture \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThou have been exploring what it means to exist within and without a rigid morality. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat exploration takes thematic center on Umbilical and their self-assessment is as \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eharsh as that of the world around them. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThey've called us anarchists, criminals, foreign meddlers, lunatics, dispossessed, relativists, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eutilitarians, egoists, passion maximizers, ascetics, negators of everything. Clearly, the \"Thou\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eexperiment is never going to appeal to audiences who demand that art rigorously enforce a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecoherent and righteous worldview. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd yet, are we not ourselves constrained by our own rigid morality? In those quiet moments \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eof deep contemplation, when the bargains and concessions are thoroughly examined, when \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewe yield before the Judging Eye-what is the summation of our choices? If the unspoiled self \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ebeyond the immensity of time were given voice, what pronouncements would be made? What \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewould such an internal audit yield? What undeniable character would be revealed? \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis record is for the radicals, the crackpots, the exiles who have escaped the wasteland of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecapitulation. This record is for the militants and zealots refusing to surrender to comforts, to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003epracticalities, to thirty pieces of silver. And this record is most especially for the weaklings and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emalingerers, burdened by capricious indulgence, hunched by the deep wounds of compromise, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eshuffling in limp approximation, desperately reaching back towards integrity and conviction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vinyl Veritas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47092333150443,"sku":"VVA0977","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0653\/5692\/3115\/files\/ThouUmbilical.jpg?v=1763705943","url":"https:\/\/www.vinylveritas.com\/products\/thou-umbilical","provider":"Vinyl Veritas","version":"1.0","type":"link"}