Thun is back with their second album, II (Eat Lead and Die Music) picking up where they left off with even more environment-loving Lovecraftian doom metal. In fact, Thun are so environmentally focused that they are only releasing this album digitally. The band states that a digital release is the most energy-efficient way to enjoy music, feeling that producing more plastic is counterintuitive to what the album’s message is.  Bonus points for the band standing up for what they believe in.

This album is stuffed with plodding and thunderous riffs as the music crawls along. They use a doom meets death metal approach leading to an epic feeling style. Doom and Cthulhu are an award winning combination that Thun uses to their advantage for this release. On each track II also features Karl Sanders of Nile on lead guitar, so going in you already know you are going to hear some incredible riffs and solos. 

Songwriter and vocalist Jon Higgs mostly delivers deep and guttural vocals but at times offers higher pitched screams along with a pinch of spoken and clean vocals. The rest of the band does an impressive job musically, adding more to the recording than your average sludge and doom release. There are haunting acoustic passages as well as a few elements of black metal peppered in giving the album more depth. Sanders’ guitar work is definitely the cherry on top here, buttoning everything up and propelling the songs even further. His leadwork here is certainly impressive. 

‘Where All Truths Lie’ is full of thick and satisfying riffs that tones down to a haunting, soft jam halfway through the track. Higgs deep gutturals perfectly match the tone of the song here. Most of the following tracks follow this formula. ‘I Have Failed You’ differs from the pack with a faster charger that includes a few blast beats, a little more screaming and stays in the mid tempo range. 

If you dig what Thun has to offer, II is the second part of what they plan to be a three or four part act. It’s only going to get better, larger and more epic from here. 

Buy the album here: https://thundoom.bandcamp.com/album/ii

7 / 10

ANDREW RISCH