Album pick, March 2026

For my third album of the month, I am choosing Ceremonies of Humiliation by Thou.

Album cover

I had an incredibly hard time choosing an album to highlight this month. Not because I Didn’t have any choices, but because I had too many choises. This past month I had been listening to a lot more of my vinyl records, as I had finally set up my living room how I like it. Pretty much all my favourite albums I have on vinyl, so it was a month of listening to all my favourite albums.

As the end of the month was getting closer, my mind kept returning to the dilemma of which album I would pick for this month. Eventually I was able to narrow it down to just three or four records.

Let me paint you the picture of hopw I got to this point; It was late in the evening, the setting sun casting it last rays into the living room, forming blurry shapes of the window on the floor. The record spinning on the player, the volume turned up, me laying on the carpet staring at the ceiling, records strewn all around me, the subwoofer rumbling away.

I kept listening, until long after the sun had set, closing my eyes and no longer listening to the music so much as I was feeling it. I was completely lost in the music. There was one album that my subconscious kept going back to just a tad bit more, but I still wasn’t able to make the choice, as all the albums were so good.

Despite always following my subconscious and gut feeling, something was stopping me this time. In the end I chose to use a random picker to finally pick just one album. They say faith plays strange games and I am inclined to believe it. As the random picker ended up choosing the album I was already leaning towards!

The attentive readers will know that Thou was also an artist on my first pick of the month, however on that album it was alongside Emma-Ruth Rundle. I loved them then for their raw sound and the contrast it formed with Emma-Ruth Rundle’s voice.

And here they are again, this time without any contrast, just their raw, unfiltered wall of sound, rolling over you. The album starts and keeps going, unrelenting until the end. It is a heavy album to listen to, but if you surrender yourself and let it roll over you, it is a truly cathartic experience.

But this heavy sound, is also exacty what they are known for and it is this mix of doom, sludge and black metal that keeps drawing me in. If I can quote Wikipedia:

Thou’s style has been labeled as “experimental doom”, stoner metal and sludge metal. On the band’s style, AllMusic critic Gregory Heaney stated that “the band’s sound blends the shuddering heaviness of doom with the oppressive atmospherics of black metal, giving the band a monolithic sound that feels, at times, inescapable.”

I can only confirm this statement; their music, and this album in particular, rolls over you. Once it starts, it doesn’t ease off until the end, it just keeps going on. Which is quite a feat, considering that this album is a compilation of their earlier works and singles.

I find that the cover, fits the album perfectly. Where most of there albums feature an intricate artwork of an engraving, inspired by the Renaissance period. Where this album just features a photograph of the lead singer. It further portrays the emotion of being completely at your wits end, tired of the unending fight; just worn out. It is just the raw emotion, no need for fancy designs or an intricate artwork. The vinyl cover doesn’t even have the band name or the album title on the sleeve.

All of this gives the impression that this album was made to work through something, and wasn’t meant to be seen or heard by anyone else. On top this album was only released as physical media, making it hard to find streaming services. This makes the album feel very private and intimate; something you weren’t supposed to see. The sound rolling over you, like you are not even there, only reinforces this feeling.

It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly why I like about this album. Perhaps it is just the raw sound of the album, perhaps the fact that it just rolls over you or maybe just the intimate private nature of it. Whatever it is, it keeps drawing me in. And no matter how many times I have heard it, it still evokes the same reaction and same feelings.

If you do decide to listen to it, I can only recommend starting at the beginning of the album and just letting it play out completely.

Now forgive me, as I head into another listen session and allow myself to get lost completely yet again.