Album Review: Thumos – The Republic (Snow Wolf Records)

US progressive post-metal band Thumos will release their full-length debut album ‘The Republic’ on January 28th, 2022 via Snow Wolf Records. It’s an instrumental adaptation of Plato’s highly influential dialogue of the same name. One song for each book.

A fascinating concept, a capable band and music that really challenges perceptions, The Republic is one hell of an album. One that doesn’t need prior knowledge of Plato’s work to appreciate, you just have to be willing to invest the time in this record.

It’s more than worth it though as Thumos hit hard with their brand of instrumental progressive post-metal. Music that has a rawness but delivers impact. The opener of The Unjust, with its thumping rhythm sets that up perfectly.

The Ring and The Virtues is where the ‘post’ really comes to play. With the former we get a frenetic tempo with ringing melodies. While the latter has an eerie, disconnected but darkly comforting sound. Both born from the same womb but so very different.

The unique make-up of this album continues into The Psyche, the crashing instrumentation has a bullish quality and you can feel it smashing through the mind. The Forms then takes us on a deeper and darker journey across 7 spectacular, drawn-out, but captivating minutes. Before The Ship offers some brief respite with effective soft melodies that builds to a cacophony of drumming.

The brilliance on show here is staggering. To call Thumos accomplished musicians is to put it mildly. That it’s their debut full-length is even more eye-widening. Can they keep this momentum up as the album moves into its latter stages?

Of bloody course they can.

Two progressive post epics in the form of The Cave, coming just short of 8 minutes and The Regimes, passing the 8-minute mark. The former, one of the wildest tracks on the album, daringly leaning towards post-black metal at times. Whereas the latter delivers a harsh lesson in how monumental sounding Thumos can sound even with their rawer undercurrent of heaviness. Easily the most challenging track on the album but, once again, a source of infinite fascination.

A mellow bit of guitar, soul-wrenching melodies, complex arrangements that grow in stature… The Just is a remarkable penultimate effort. Followed then by the longest track on the album at nearly 9-minutes. The Spindle is everything great about this band and this album, rolled into one. A progressive behemoth, a post-metal oddity, a heavy metal slice of brilliance. A closer that adds the cherry on top.

What a debut release this is. Thumos have delivered one of 2022’s best albums already.

Thumos – The Republic Full Track Listing:

1. The Unjust
2. The Ring
3. The Virtues
4. The Psyche
5. The Forms
6. The Ship
7. The Cave
8. The Regimes
9. The Just
10. The Spindle

Links

Bandcamp | Instagram