@ocean_kwock

October 3rd marked a long-anticipated day for all sludge fans across Chicago, at least for those fortunate enough to hold tickets to Thou’s sold out show at Beat Kitchen. Only their second show into the tour for their newest album Umbilical, they were accompanied by Chicago natives Djunah and Black Nail to open the night for them. Unfamiliar with both, I was eager to have their live introductions in such an intimate space, not more than five feet off the front of the stage.

As the tight venue space began to fill, a single artist took the stage, and gave us an emotional performance composed of simply her vocals and keyboard. While not unwelcome, unexpected felt like the consensus throughout the crowd, but it was at this point that she introduced herself as Djunah, readying her guitar and queueing up the drum-machine before jumping into the blasting beats and riffs of the rest of her set. Her sound was reminiscent of desert rock with her powerful vocals grounding Djunah to the heavy noise/metal sounds that were sure to please the Thou crowd.

This impressive one-woman outfit was then replaced by two guitarists, two bassists, a drummer and a vocalist, collectively known as the next opener Black Nail. Unlike Djunah, they opted to start as loud and violent as possible, immediately opening up a one-man mosh, courtesy of their dedicated fan. They hit you with a wall of sound layered between their four strings, anchored by the blasting drums and harsh, abrasive vocals. They back up this noise with an all-out performance, the vocalist throwing himself all over the stage and the lead bassist coming to the front to throw down heavy riffs while channeling every beat through his violent headbangs. Skramz, punk, emo, mathcore, there are probably twenty different labels you could try to throw them under, but all you need to know is that they’re loud, they’re fast, and they’re pretty damn good.

The anticipation throughout the crowd had grown to a palpable point as the last of Black Nail’s gear left the stage, and this tension was met by a singular man in a hoodie subtly taking the stage, no other than Brian Funck, the lead vocalist of Thou, Soon followed by the rest of the outfit, as well as eruptious cheers from the crowd. There was no introduction needed as Thou immediately laid into the deep, slow riffs of their opening song. As they redefined what the openers had deemed as the proper output to the speakers, I almost felt a sense of pity to the patrons of Beat Kitchen’s bar whom had simply wanted a peaceful night out, but any coherent thoughts were soon exiled as nonstop headbanging and moshing throughout the crowd took over for the rest of the set. A phenomenal setlist, unfortunately short but oh-so sweet, highlighting selections off their newest album as well as a few nods to their prior work. While sludge metal did not give the pretense of drawing a mosh crowd, the will of the people prevailed nonetheless, and I believe it highlights the current state of shows that you should expect to be prepared to hold your ground against the drunk and the sweaty regardless of genre.