Neither artist is swamped by the other on any of these songs; instead, they have each successfully tapped in to what makes the other tick, and utilised those signifiers, those identifying sounds, to their fullest possible effect.
Thou & Emma Ruth Rundle balance ugliness and beauty, but it’s really the emotional impact that makes May Our Chambers Be Full an indispensable listen.
For all of its epic grandiosity, May Our Chambers Be Full only clocks in at a mere 37 minutes, but in doing so leaves a more indelible impression.
May Our Chambers Be Full is that rarest of things – a body of work which combines but does not try to obscure the strong individual artistic voices of the collaborators.
Running less than 40 minutes, May Our Chambers Be Full covers a great deal of ground without getting bogged down in any one track.
Great themes and vibes, just lacks anything that makes this really stand out. Great mixing on this too.
This is Thou's best album.
This is also Emma Ruth Rundle's best album. Coincidence? I think not!
I absolutely ADORE how the two involved parties brought out the absolute best in each other. This is a beautifully crushing and emotive album and should be considered a benchmark for how a great collaboration should be done.
Also, "The Valley" is a perfect conclusion to May Our Chambers Be Full and is easily one of the top five songs of 2020. Bet.
Top Tracks: Monolith, Ancestral ... read more
Long crashing waves of darkness and wallowing beauty create a sophisticated contrast between clean vocals and atmospheric black metal. The drone line nature of the album makes the back half a bit of a blur. A nice Celtic resolve on the last track gives a bit of the context of shared ground between the artists.
1 | Killing Floor 6:46 | 100 |
2 | Monolith 3:23 | 90 |
3 | Out of Existence 3:42 | 90 |
4 | Ancestral Recall 3:54 | 90 |
5 | Magickal Cost 4:10 | 95 |
6 | Into Being 5:16 | 95 |
7 | The Valley 8:58 | 100 |
#1 | / | Treble |
#10 | / | Kerrang! |
#47 | / | Stereogum |
#70 | / | The Quietus |