Thumos/spaceseer: The Course Of Empire

Thumos make a quick fire return after their January 2022 album, The Republic, but here, some six months or so later, the US progressive-post metal outfit have teamed up with ‘prog-electronic’ storyteller’, spaceseer. This collaboration isn’t some sudden reinvention, with Thumos still a heavy, grinding, doom-laden outfit destined to crush your dreams with their intensity, but here there are interesting electronic brushstrokes that both break up and run alongside the thundering outbursts.

In places these ‘new’ colours can feel a little isolated in the album’s flow, and even their titles, “Introduction�, “Interlude 1� and “Interlude 2� hint at a disconnect. And there is, and there isn’t, because these tracks do undoubtedly act as a cleansing from the onslaught as they pull back the more standard attack completely to allow spaceseer to fill the void. However, contrary to expectations, these pieces do feel intrinsically linked to the longer, angst ridden tracks, and there is also a more restrained use of some of the electronic moods and atmospheres elsewhere that gels everything together very cleverly indeed.

In ways, when compared to The Republic, The Coarse Of Empire (can we sense a theme here?), comes across as both less and more intense. The clever changes in pace are much more obvious here and, on first encounter, they can feel much less full on. However, slap on a good pair of headphones, or crank up the volume and it’s often the slower tempo passages which hit hardest.

This is a very interesting and remarkably cohesive collaboration between what initially felt like two disparate acts. That both Thumos and spaceseer have been able to not just meet in the middle but completely compliment each other, is very impressive indeed.

Track Listing
1. Introduction

2. Commencement

3. Arcadian

4. Interlude 1

5. Consummation

6. Interlude 2

7. Destruction

8. Desolation

Added: July 25th 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Thumos @ bandcamp
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Language: english

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