Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Thorns - Thorns (2001)

With all things being equal the grumpy old man in me was instantly put off by the band logo on the cover of this record.  "This looks all sleek and modern, with its oddly shaped T and H", he said.  "This be music for young people", he said.  What this actually turned out to be once Pensioner Vincent had climbed back in his rocking chair was an absolute fucking blast.

This is all about the fucking riffs man.  Chopping and scathing attacks on the auditory inlets of the listener they act as an abrasive and caustic excursion into industrial-tinged, atmospheric and also blasting BM.  With Satyr of Satyricon performing the majority of vocals the album does sound a tad like a more adventurous version of the infamous bm stalwarts.  Musically though it is somewhere between the levels of intensity generated by a Tsjuder record and the levels of creepiness experienced in most horror movies.  The guitars themselves have an almost crispness to them (again reminiscent of Now, Diabolical era Satyricon) as they battle for supremacy with the haunting atmospheres and perilous melodies of the overall of offering.  With Hellhammer guesting on the drums there's certainly no shortage of power or guile in that department.

It would be easy on a record of so many opposing parts for the album to lack flow or cohesion but it does have both.  In this regard it is a triumph of both design and content.  Without many twists or turns the album delivers a varied listening experience that stays with you for a while after.  Its consistency and confidence are both strong enough regardless of what pace, tempo or general style the band are performing at even the final track with it's spoken word verses seems to act as a fitting summary to all that has passed before it.

Arguably, with the names associated with it, Thorns single full-length offering could only ever had been a success.  But the delivery of it serves to fully cement this expectation and leaves me wishing still for a second offering nearly twenty years later.