Never less than a searing whirlwind of hatred, Thorns’ self-titled debut (and to date only) album is a revolutionary, revelatory experience, but then you’d expect nothing less of a band that, aside from main-man Snorre, features drummer extraordinaire Hellhammer as well as vocalist Satyr. Combining eerie samples, gleaming industrial elements that serve only to highlight the extreme cold of the riffs and a barrage of relentless percussion, Thorns took the black metal blueprint by the neck and gave it a damned good shaking that has yet to be matched.
Given that Thorns had been on an enforced hiatus as a result of Snorre’s prison sentence, the band’s return to action was prolific with 1998 seeing a split EP with black metal legends Emperor and 2001 finding the band unleashing an album via Satyr’s own Moonfog label (whose output has been comprehensively reissued by Peaceville lately). Thorns clearly were under no illusions about the horrific strengths of their misanthropic material and Snorre, backed by Satyr and Hellhammer set about making an album as brutally unforgiving as black metal has ever seen.
The resulting eight-track disc (here expanded to ten tracks) opens with the nihilistic, oddly-orchestrated ‘Existence’, a track which still blows the mind some ten years on and which provides a fair approximation of what it must be like to be caught inside a wind tunnel, naked and wearing only a pair of giant headphones blasting out Slayer at maximum volume. The guitars are horrendous – tinny and buzzing like flies, and yet layered to such an extent that they form a dense wall which is impenetrable by all but the industrial strength drums pounded out by an incensed Hellhammer. Rapidly followed by ‘world playground deceit’ which offers similar atypical guitar flourishes to latter-day Emperor, the album certainly does not let up and the double-kick drums pound into the listener with unexpected ferocity and potency. It’s jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring stuff but not nearly so much as the Emperor referencing juggernaut that is ‘world playground deceit’ – a juddering epic that juxtaposes huge atonal riffs with moments of exceptional speed. A quite remarkable track, if you ever want to demonstrate to the uninitiated what Thorns is all about, this is the ideal starting point. ‘Shifting channels’, meanwhile, is the sound of a lost John Carpenter soundtrack from the eighties filtered through the mind of a deranged psychotic. Part industrial slow-grind reminiscent of Swans and Godflesh it is a magnificently eerie track that maintains an icy soundtrack feel that recalls the dank atmosphere of Axis of Perdition’s wilful excursions into the realm of the nightmare. After such a journey, ‘Stellar master elite’ is something of as relief as it builds up a significant head of steam and then smashes the dark mood with brutal riffing and vocals laden with spite. It’s over quickly though and in its place you’re left with the deep cold of space on ‘underneath the universe 1’, the first part of a two-track set which initially appears to be a build-up featuring martial drums before the whole thing ebbs away to unveil a deep sense of foreboding that utilises drone and synth to unsettling effect. Having drifted helplessly in the void, ‘underneath the universe 2’ shatters the calm with a crushing wall of detuned guitars and guttural vocals that grind down all before them. It’s an astounding centrepiece to an album that does everything to rise above the ordinary and present itself as a piece of dark art rather than as a straight-forward album.
‘Interface to God’ strips everything back down to the barest essence and promptly wipes the floor with everyone in a blistering feat of extremity that condenses a life-time of rage and animosity into a brief, nihilistic rampage that kaleidoscopes out before fading away leaving only Vortex to close the album in rather more subtle fashion. Almost unbearably oppressive, it’s a textured, uncomfortable end to an album that challenges perceptions and raises the flag of invention high throughout. Whether Thorns will actually release their long-promised follow-up is anyone’s guess, but if this is all the band ever leave behind it will be a remarkable achievement.
Of course, being a re-issue, Peaceville have raided the vaults and this edition is presented in suitably expanded packaging as well as with the video for ‘vortex’ and demo versions of TSOS and Existence. Once again these extras prove to be the icing on an already impressive cake and when the original album is this strong it’s arguable that the bonus cuts only serve to lessen the impact of an astonishing piece of work. Nonetheless, as has been so often noted on these pages, it’s great to see the fan being treated with respect and Peaceville have done a good job, yet again, to make sure that the package is attractive to both fans and newcomers alike and offers value for money as well as musical interest. A literally stunning album given a new lease of life and an essential purchase for fans of avant-garde black metal and industrial, this is a grim, grimy, dystopian vision of the future filtered through a dirt-encrusted black metal lens and it is an unfettered wok of genius.
