Review: Thumos ‘The Republic’
There seems to have been an increase in the instrumental metal genre, and music fans either love it or they hate it. The absence of vocals throws people off, as they don’t believe a song can have the same effect without them; this is simply a matter of opinion, and most assuredly not a fact. Bands like Pelican and Clouds Taste Satanic are furthering the genre in ways that are unique, melodic, and insanely talented.
Today we will discuss one of those instrument bands, a group named Thumos, who uses the philosophies of one of history’s greatest thinkers, Plato, while crafting their music. Their newest offering is called The Republic, which will be available on January 28th via their Bandcamp page.
There are two singles available at the time of writing, The Virtues and The Cave. Both of these tracks exhibit A+ musicianship, which is extremely important in all music but even more so in the instrumental genre.
The Virtues is reminiscent of some of the things that Sólstafir applies to their music and is one of the very best tracks on this record. The guitars capture that post-metal feel with accuracy, while the rest of the band creates the perfect backdrop for the guitars to shine.
The Cave is almost eight minutes of similar vibes and may be the best track on The Republic. The intro builds up to an incredibly memorable riff that will make you move along to its slow groove and sticks in your head long after listening to it. When it changes, at approximately the four-minute mark, Thumos adds in a black metal influence, which creates a heavier feel while remaining in that post-metal vibe.
The Unjust opens the album and it may be even better than the two songs we already discussed. Utilizing a slight black metal feel in the form of certain riffs and the underlying instrumentation, The Unjust is a very strong and engaging track; it almost feels like it could be an intro to a black metal song, just slower and more accessible to listeners who may not enjoy that particular genre.
The guitars capture that post-metal feel with accuracy, while the rest of the band creates the perfect backdrop for the guitars to shine…
Directly following that amazing album opener, we find another of the standouts in The Ring. The track has excellent riffage and is arranged in a way where putting vocals to it would be easy, but their absence only makes this one more enjoyable, using the guitar parts to craft the melodies that vocals would usually be in the way of.
It was mentioned earlier that Thumos creates music based on the philosophies of Plato, and it’s conceivable that many of you are wondering how that works with no vocal parts. Never fear, as we asked the band that question knowing it would be brought up by listeners. Here’s what the band had to say…
‘We try to approach it pretty much based entirely on mood. Like take a chapter of The Republic or one of the previous songs we’ve done, and just break down the topic into the most basic idea possible. Without lyrics we need it to be as singular of a concept as possible to then try and craft an appropriate mood.’
Adding, ‘The challenge with The Republic was also establishing continuity with the songs. Each one needed its own identity while still bringing a piece of the work as a whole. The flow was the hardest part. We have a lot of leftover songs that were failed attempts. We’re planning to title them after smaller details of The Republic and release them as a companion/b-sides piece at some point.’
Now that you fine people have read about Thumos, we implore you to go check them out for yourselves. Enjoy!!
Label: Independent
Band Links: Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Tom Hanno
