THUMOS: The Republic (DOOM): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

At the risk of repeating ourselves, Thumos is really not a doom band like the others. When most of their colleagues often follow the same marked path from a conceptual point of view (death, depression...) or visual (always a cross in a corner, sinister landscapes...), the Americans draw their inspiration from ancient Greece! Not really an era frequently quoted in the music we love. This can be surprising, like the fresco "The school of Athens", painted by Raphael in the 16th century, which is used as a cover for "The Republic" whose title obviously refers to Plato. But the singularity of Thumos does not stop at this ancient and philosophical environment since his art is just as strange, instrumental and rough. Who is behind this project? We don't know, as it is careful not to reveal the identity of its creator(s).

After having inundated us with demos (five in all) and EPs (including "The End Of Words"), this intriguing entity gives birth to a first album. Its content does not remind anything known, does not evoke any influence to which to cling like a beacon. The fact that Thumos opted for this instrumental and pointillist if not minimalist format could tie it to post metal but it never frees itself from an earthy heaviness that nails it to the ground and breaks the wings that should allow it to take off - which it never does. Like the sketches that preceded and fixed this extremely strong sound identity, "The Republic" appears numb. And the rare attempts at movement ('The Ship') are stifled, as if aborted.

However, it delivers an exciting program from beginning to end. If guitar and drums eat up all the space offered, answer and oppose each other, free of any trace of sophistication, they build a multi-faceted edifice. 'The Unjust' with its rumbling beginning with a dull tension, spreads a hypnotic dramaturgy in progression. 'The Ring', which follows it, is pierced at the end of the track by beautiful guitar lines while the drums erect a bruised cliff in the night.

More haunting, 'The Virtues' marries the trappings of a more classical post metal, impression however disturbed by a surprising rhythmic work. Further on, 'The Regimes' sneaks for more than eight minutes through the weird folds of an evolving maze while 'The Just' presents a beauty as heartbreaking as skeletal. These few examples are enough to unveil a fascinating work, heavy but never monolithic, tragic but teeming with a slender hope, purified but vibrating with an instrumental and melodic richness.

Faithful to a personality that belongs only to him, Thumos refines with "The Republic" his art of an energetic hardness, delivering a bewitching first album, alloy of a dramatic post metal and a doom with progressive hints. A must have! - Official website

THUMOS

THE REPUBLIC

AUTOPRODUCTION

DOOM