More people like Emmure than they will ever like your shit death metal band: "UGHHHHH my stupid fucken crusty stoner older brother wont stop playn this lameass shit upstairs its some band calld Thou n they sound liek if u were in ur dads beat up old mustang and he was playin ACDC on his tape deck n then the tape got all tangled up n shit idk its fucken gay tho i wish he'd get a fucken job n move out" I liked the old stuff better: "Listening to Thou's Heathen. So far it does not particularly move me one way or another. It hasn't spoken to me at the level of Summit yet." Two records streaming on NPR, and all I got was a metal neophyte: "I liked the music right up until the 'singing' started. Sounds like a Chihuahua vomiting on a microphone." Best response we've gotten to Heathen from a super intelligent and well-respected woman in her upper 70s: "Bereft that it was over! I listened to it again and to other tracks, as well, and I pre-ordered the cd. I enjoyed it very much--that is too mild. I was astounded at how much I like listening to this. I've played a little of Thou's music before just to see what it is but this is different! It is so much better, I think I get it. It appeals to me. Your vocals are compelling. As unmusical as I am, I even think I can say the music is absorbing, moving--I want to put my arms around it, be in it. I think I am having an experience of music, one of the very few overwhelming and positive reactions to music in my life. So yesterday I listened to Heathen again, this time straight through from the beginning, and it is even more amazing as a complete work. It is as if an intense experience has been created and presented to me. Maybe it just takes all that raw elemental power and contrast to get through to my non-musical brain, although I do not listen at anything like full volume, I assure you!" On the astral tendrils of New Orleans strangling our Id: "As far as the influence of New Orleans is concerned I feel they missed hitting the most crucial nail. The lyrical content and aesthetic is seeped with a certain blackness only cultivated in that area and is carried on in the streets by the night creepers,﻿ the tattooed faced heathens, the drug users, the vandals, and the uncontrollable! The frustration, despondency, and violence in their aesthetic mirrors our fight on the ground. It is a symbiotic relationship. We frequently lay with Bacchus and Dionysus, but would gladly strangle them in their sleep with a sardonic smile under the direction of our true lord: CHAOS. With all my love and﻿ lust, The Chaos Wizard Youth."

I don't even know where to start:

"I don't remember how I found Thou, but motherfucker those motherfuckers are good. Summit is so warm, and not in a faggy vinyl analogue warmth kind of way, just in a good one. Also, they reprise tracks on different albums. That’s so badass. It’s very jazz of them. That’s proper of a band. Keep playing your shit, and re-record it. and re-release the new recording. That is the kind of thing die hard fans really want. It shows balls to think your songs are so good that they can be changed slightly and rereleased."

Succinct:

"This is what Thou sounds like [PICTURE OF A BARE ASS]."

Get the kid with the sideburns :

"Thou is a decent band. For sure.

They’re tight live. They seem genuinely interested in the progress of punk rock and DIY culture and protecting the sanctity of that “scene.” They’re prolific and have a pretty cool, consistent aesthetic among their releases. I appreciate their apparent work ethic and the fact that they make efforts to use whatever exposure they’ve gained to share ideas that they believe strengthen underground culture.

But I’ll be damned if I’ve ever heard a song by them I remember, or have ever found myself thinking “Fuck, I need to listen to that band!”

In a weird way, they could be like the Reversal of Man of this era. Great on paper, solid ideas, good dudes, and the music isn’t shitty, (I know I’m going to get some backlash here arguing ROM’s music was balls. Whatever. I appreciate context.) But sonically, Thou is much more biege and forgettable than I wish they were. I’d go so far as saying I want to get into them, but it’s just not happening. Sorry, brah."

Death and doom :

"So is this what happened after hardcore wasn't cool anymore? Weak Doom! They will probably break up in a couple years anyway."

On our split with Hell :

"Hell is pretty cool, Thou are overrated & boring."

Influencing culture one meme at a time (RE: "Talk to cops in a language they understand" posters) :

" The hell to anyone who would rather pick up a gun than speak their mind. Fuck. "

" Violence only begets more violence. Violence!"

" This is so not okay. Encouraging violence is never ever okay. I know some police officers do some terrible things but..."

" The cops will win that conversation. And I won’t have too much sympathy if you’re trying to dismantle, with violence..."

"B eing just as bad as the douchebag that you’re against..."

" Which part of 'Violence only begets violence' do you people not get?"

" Let's 'talk' to cops with violence because they sometimes commit unjust violence doesn’t really solve anything. "

" I' m pretty sure they speak English too you guys."

Even our friends hate us (RE: "Fourth of July"):

" ‏( @ roboticempire): THOU's only questionable cover to date.

‏( @ TwatterLord): Thou ruins another great song. garbage.

‏( @ roboticempire): this is THOU's only cover to date that I aint feelin. which other ones got ya raw? ?

‏( @ TwatterLord): hahahaah.I guess IM thinking of the Nirvana cover and then some Sabbath slaughter they did live! Their originals kill though!"

Tumblr rant:

"So I saw Thou in LA the other night. Lemme tell you a little somethin' about Thou: THEY KNOW THEIR SHIT. THAT BAND. BACK THEM FOREVER. Stoked for life."

Providence critics:

"Halfway through Thou's set I forgot I was even watching a band. Thou strikes me as a group of dudes who skipped Black Flag as teenagers and jumped right to Burnt By the Sun. Both my roommates go crazy over this band, and I always tease them that they're the BM Tony's Cantina house band because all I've ever heard from them on record are Nirvana covers. Their original stuff just bores me to tears."

"Thou were tolerable."

"Thou were great. I didn't know them before the show, but I was thoroughly crushed. Curious to see if I will like them as much on record."

"Thou was great. 2nd time I've seen them. They seem to like to play at ground level and tell the crowd to get as close as possible which sucks unless you are right up front."

Smoke pigs erryday.

"Who made that gun image?



The weapon used for it of really makes no sense. I never really scrutinized it until just now.



It has this huge 'flash suppressor' that is totally out of perspective. It's like they just chopped a section of exhaust ports off a Browning Machine Gun and attached it to a compact mp5 to make it look like some kind of 'suppressor.' The holes in it are so big that it wouldn't even do anything.



It wouldn't suppress any sort of sound or hide the flash or anything. Those are just gas ports for a large caliber machine gun so the thing stays on target a little better and doesn't trail off with extended fire or overheat.



If you guys reuse that image you gotta fix that. A sound suppressor doesn't have any holes, and any type of flash suppressor would be like an inch or two off the end of the barrel with some kind of fluted exhaust for the gas."

Thou are poseurs:

And on the subject of that hipster shirt...

On Archer:

"The half-assed Nirvana cover almost turned me off, but then, bam! TRUMPET! That’s what I’m talkin’ about."

"This is good music, but if they ever had anything original to add, they seem to have lost that. Sounds too much like a mixture of Bison, Withered, and Cough."

Hate so real:

"Never actually watched this band. they always seem to jump on shows with bands I like and I've tried to watch them/understand the hype they get. I'm just not a fan. They bore me to sleep and most of the kids I've met who rep for them are Locust Wizards."

"Thou are fresh faced armchair revolutionaries who don't have the muscle to lift an iced coffee over a cops head much less an assault rifle to 'smoke pigs' with."

"Fair enough but I'm pretty sure I specified that I made attempts to like the band. I watched them play live 3 times. It was burger stuff. I think the cover songs they seem to churn out are annoying at best. The lyrics read like the self masturbatory in school detention poetry written by the fat Wiccan girls from my high school. The artwork is played out Google images. The tone is decent but the songs plod on and go nowhere, they lack--and I cringe to say this but--"soul." The vocals are fruity. Sorry but I like to at least believe a band is about what they preach. The gun/assault business just makes me want to bitch-slap one of these guys with the butt of a colt. They are obviously good at something, but my ears don't fuck with whatever that is."

"I'm not trying to hate on them to be controversial. I've hated them for awhile. A lot of my friends listen to Thou. I hate those friends."

Facebook critics:

"Yeah, who the fuck cares about that board. You know who? The loser hip shits who go to those silly Turf Club shows. The bands appreciate it, fuck the fans. And seriously, it's thou. They may make some sweet doom records, but any band that makes a shirt commenting on hipsters, are fucking hipsters themselves." -Dan Hussein



"Can't understand why the fuck Thou is even mentioned and why there is a board? Trash. Im not sure if that shirt rules or if I hate the piss out of it. I forsee that band branching in the wrong direction soon." -James Muschinski

On the March 10 Minneapolis show :

"I couldn't see the band anyways. I thought THOU was pretty lackluster though. I don't know if I was too far back to hear the gear or what, but everything sounded like dogshit smells. But their latest record, the tones and shit sound 1,000,000 times better than it did tonight. They seemed pretty amateur hour metal..... I guess metal isn't really my bag though. I guess I only really jam Neurosis, Sleep, Sabbath, Maiden, Deep Purple, Converge, Electric Wizard, Rhapsody, Metallica, G'N'R', Isis and Pelican when it cums to metal anyways. So what-evs. I gave em a shot."

"Thou was great, I just think they needed to be louder."

"I wasn't disappointed with anything except maybe the fact that I could only see two of them, and just bobbing heads at that. I guess that's what happens when you play on the floor."

"My only gripe is the jokey Nirvana cover action as encore; I got there a few minutes after they started and I would personally have preferred further forays into the depths at a slow speed."

"Yeah seriously... They only played like 3 or 4 songs, and then did a cover. Really? How silly is that. They have a ton of songs too; it's not like they are lacking in original material. Also, if you aren't playing full stacks, you don't know the meaning of metal. Everyone should take queues from MAXIMUM LOUISVILLE! It was a real struggle to hear the guitar during their last 2 songs when it was kicked into growl mode."

"Thou was awesome, although when I was buying their merch, they openly mocked me for liking hipster noise like AIDs Wolf and not liking Nirvana."

"Three songs is fine... not complaining about set length. But when you play four songs and the fourth is a cover, that seems silly to me when you have 30 songs of your own. I'm kind of a dickwad about music. Take it with a grain of salt. I just thought their latest LP sounds really great, and I didn't think the live set was up to that caliber."

Comments left on Brooklyn Vegan:

"That Thou record was the biggest letdown of 2010. They're trying way too hard on that one."

"I thought Thou was OK, but they were one of the most disappointing live bands I've seen in a long time."

A whole thread on Decibel called "Thou Still Suck." Unfortunately, only the person who started the thread left any notable comments, but here they are:

"Seriously, why do people insist on shoving this worthless band down my throat? Thank God they give their shit away for free, it'd be unfortunate if people actually paid for it. All it sounds like is really average sludge, I fail to see why they seem to get so much distinction and praise. Oooh snap, they like Sabbath a LOT! Dude, Thou suck. They really suck. Thou suck. They are not good at music. Even Batillus is better, and they suck too."

"Clearly you're an idiot, then. No one ACTUALLY likes Thou, people just tend to pretend. Some may have actually convinced themselves they enjoy Thou's shitty, shitty music, but deep down, there's a gnawing, speck of doubt which WILL come out someday. I'm not asking you morons to be honest with yourselves, god knows it's too late for that, but I'm hoping you'll at least contemplate this idea for a second or twelve. Thou SUCK."

"You can avoid it all you want, but you KNOW you don't like Thou."

Some good comments from the Stereokiller board on Summit:

"I feel like I should really like thou, but can't get into them at all."

"it sounds like screamo riffs played in a low tuning. can't get into."

"I saw em with Sunn0))) it was weird."

"not as good as everyone makes them out to be"

"boring"

A comment on the NPR stream of Summit:

"yawn"

Another great messageboard review referring to a post about the NPR stream:

"NPR is for indie hipsters! This is a hardcore forum, I suggest you go post on the Neutral Milk Hotel forum. One of my ex's once said sludge was for people too poorly skilled to play real metal and after listening to this, I agree. Gawd that was awful."

From the Decibel forum:

"These dudes have some retarded lyrics and you can tell they're high as fuck or something. I dig what they're saying just not how they say it, not that it matters because the vocals are all just EEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. These dudes write a shit ton of songs, man."

"I feel with Thou the lead singer is sometimes trying to make up for the fact that he doesn't play an instrument by overloading every second with words. I did enjoy Tyrant but it puts me to sleep, if you've heard one of their songs you've heard them all."

A show review from Stoner Rock of our summer 2010 show in SF:

"Fell Voices killed it, their drummer is a beast, trance inducing instrumental black metal with great rhythmic variations so it never gets stagnant. Moloch were boring and Thou had awesome tone but were also pretty boring, neither left me with much of an impression and I dig many bands of that ilk (Eyehategod, Iron Monkey, etc). But go see Fell Voices if they play in your area."

From the Buddyhead on Scion Fest 2010:

"By the time they hit the stage, Thou were obviously out to kill. Folks are still raving about the absolutely dead-eyed evil that their singer radiated onstage. Opening with a simple 'thanks Southwest' before tearing into easily the heaviest set of the night, Thou cemented their place as godlike titans of the riff. That line actually became sort of a weird festival in-joke. I heard at least a half dozen people use the phrase 'thanks Southwest' with varying amounts of sarcasm and humor inflected each time."

From the OMGvinyl website:

"No offense, but once you start listening to bands like Thou, Of Montreal just sounds like somebody is literally injecting AIDS directly into your ear canal."

KLSU Grammy Category:

"Best Local Band Besides Thou."

A glimpse into our home life via Mad Rad Hair .

" I just used to be around them everyday. I hate one of the kids in that band so bad, plus they took over my friend Fletchers house when he went to teach in Korea which made me sad. They play shows at my friends houses all the time. If you feel like hanging out with a bunch a of real shitheads go to BR and see them a few times a month."

This guy gives Malfeasance / Retribution a half star out of five stars .

"Kinda shitty. I remember when these kids wanted to sound like Acid Bath... I guess that was before playing crappy little kid Sludge got cool. At least their logo got better, I guess."

Precious gemstones off of the Stoner Rock messageboard .

" I thought sludge was ebbing away, but these guys reaffirmed my faith. Lead singer's eyes were bugging out of his head with manic intensity while he screamed-- he's a believer."



"Yeah, I was talking to Bryan (vocals) on myspace, and all he did was answer my questions as simple and brief as possible. He didn't say 'thanks for your interest' or anything of that nature. He resembles a dork, but nothing could be further from the truth."



"They stayed with my friend after a show, and he said they were super-serious about everything. At some point, they needed something, and were visibly angry at his suggestion that Wal-Mart was right down the street. They're also very young, I think. He swears they told him they tune to F, on Epiphones. That seems impossible, heh. I have Peasant and the EP, and they rule. Another interesting thing was that they were pretty diverse in their musical interests...I think a few of the guys didn't really even listen to doom / sludge."

"Rednecks too. Which I think is awesome personally. Nothing says redneck more than a beard, long hair and a flannel shirt."

"Tyrant is good, Peasant is ok. flavour of the month - it won't last."

Communiqué of Typhon .

" Lets start this one off rightly so, by first stating: I dwell on the fringe cliffs of the Kingdom of Sanity. Perhaps I am off mark, but I believe the keyhole I am looking through unlocks the proper door even if I cannot see the room. Why dredge rivers of time for the corpses of strangers? You are attempting Shit to Gold without first understanding Mercury, Sulphur, and Salt.



I do not believe myself to be alive, I do not believe myself to be a man, even a dead man. Do you understand these implications?



Please allow all the lowly Flies to attempt to lay their young in This. For the sake of beauty of Life. Even though the Soil belongs to a King. "

Show review of 10.13.08 in Richmond.

"Then came Thou. I wasn't going to go to the show until Thou added. Was slightly disappointed they didn't have all of their amps with them (they used Saviours except for the bass cabinet). They only played three songs in their 30 minute set, but each song was like taking a new journey. Bryan, the vocalist, sat quiet for most of the night before their set. When they started to play, it was like nothing I have ever heard before. Not excruciatingly loud, but the heaviest sludge I have ever heard in my entire life. I stood front and center as Brian screamed into my face almost the entire set. His eyes spewed hatred, disgust, and anger. I don't think I've seen something more disturbing in my life. Not what he looked like, he is a very nice looking man, but the way he looked at everyone while performing. The emotion in his vocals as well as his delivery, his swaying back and forth, almost falling over because of how deep he was getting into the songs, the piercing look, all brought it together. Apparently the guitarist that offered me sushi (dearly sorry I forget his name at the moment) found the guitar he used to play with and restored it. It was an epiphone. Yellow. With a bell curve at the top. And about 40 holes drilled through it. The other guitarist looks like my friend Pat, but that is a different story. Their set went from heavy, to atmospheric, to heavily atmospheric, to heavy, to crushing. The last song they played actually wasn't that slow at all. It faded in and out of a huge riff with some awesome atmospheric black metal drumming, while the guitarist that looked like Pat tremolo picked over top of the rhythm. HUGE is all I can use to describe their sound. Oh, and their merch guys are nice too."

After we played in Chicago in June of 2008.

" I drove my mom home from work today, and I put on the Peasant CD. F irst my mom said it was 'whale music .' T hen she said, 'Oh great, now the devil is singing. Desmond, he sounds like the devil. ' A nd theeeeen, 'I feel like I have to go to church now to save my immortal soul. W hy doesn't someone just put him out of his misery?' Mind you, this is all in the time span of about 15 minutes."

On Tyrant.