Review by Rexorcist for Thorns - Thorns (2001)
One more one-album wonder to want. Say that five times fast. Jokes aside, considering how few industrial black metal acts we get that can actually nail it, Thorns could never get their act together well enough for that supposed second album which was announced in 2008, and that includes constant band changes from what I've read. I've heard this album before, and I was pretty impressed. But with my standards having changed a lot since then, I worried I might not like it as much. It HAS been years since I touched it (that's what she said). Okay, not jokes aside.
As soon as the album starts, you understand the production. A crystalline dissonant sound throws itself at you like a bomb while the little intricacies in the percussions and the alien sound effects are heard faintly but perfectly clearly. This isn't the kind of production standard set by the average debut. This is what Taake needed for his debut, if you ask me. As well, when the industrial aspects take flight, they're just as in your face as the black metal. This is industrial metal that really does sound like it came out of a factory. These guys absolutely love their sound effects. With all the machines whirring in the background of the sparse and creepy Shifting Channels, I'm waiting for Ellen Ripley to say, "Get away from her, you BITCH!" These percussions are just amazing, but what else can you expect from Hellhammer of all people?
As for the creativity, higher than most black metal classics. There are many different applications for the industrial percussions and genre specifics, and not just for metal. It's very nice for Underneath the Universe to have a dark ambient middle section and end after some very tribal instrumentation. Even if it's not the most creative ambient track, it's nice to have one that doesn't last 25 minutes. And we get a very doomy strack, a bit like something from Godflesh but a little more mysterious at the end, so they know how to end an album with a bang.
A bunch of great songs, damn good production and some good creativity almost give this a five-star for me. Not quite, but it's there. And now to once again seethe in the sorrow of another great classic black metal band never getting past the first album.
93