Thorns - Stigma Diabolicum

Rating: 9.5

Country: Norway

Release Date: 2008

Track list:
1. Aerie Descent
2. Funeral Marches to the Grave
3. Lovely Children
4. Fairytales
5. Fall
6. Thule
7. Home
8. You That Mingle May
9. Into the Promised Land
10. Lacus de luna
11. Mare frigoris
12. Into the Promised Land
13. Lacus de luna
14. Thule
15. Fall

Band Website: Thorns

Thorns - Stigma Diabolicum

Snorre Ruch - Guitar
Marius Vold - Vocals
Harald Eilertsen - Bass
Bard Eithun - Drums

Ask most people to name the most influential black metal bands and chances are the vast majority of these will be from the infamous Norwegian Black Circle and justifiably so. Although proper due must be given to bands like Bathory, Hellhammer, Sarcofago and Samael, most of the typical black metal riff styles where ultimately developed, improved upon and perfected in Norway of the early nineties. The bands that most readily come to mind in this context are invariably Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Enslaved, Immortal and Emperor. Again rightly so. Ironically enough though, the band which should perhaps be credited with actually inventing that cold, dissonant riffing style has due to that singular scene-ending historical murder vanished from public awareness.

Yes, I am talking of Thorns which, even after releasing the critically acclaimed self-titled debut in 2001, has remained little more than an interesting sideshow to the whole Norwegian cult of the nineties as far as most extreme metal fans are aware. Now, with the release of the demo collection Stigma Diabolicum, this can perhaps be somewhat rectified, for this contains all of Thorns' musical output from all the way back in 1989 (as Stigma Diabolicum) until its dissolution in 1992 when Snorre joined Mayhem. And let me tell you what an eye (or ear) opener this collection is. Remember that slightly thrashy main riff from Mayhem's song "From the Dark Past" that ended in that completely fucked up slide? That riff debuted in the song "Into the Promised Land" from Stigma Diabolicum's first rehearsal in nineteen-fucking-eighty-nine. When bands like Darkthrone and Immortal were still playing death metal, Snorre Ruch was inventing jagged and inhuman riff techniques that even in this day and age, when current bands use them, are seen as advanced and avant garde.

The album starts off with the Trondertun tape, which contains the two songs that are pretty much the Thorns' trademark songs: "Aerie Descent" and "Funeral Marches to the Grave" which eventually were reworked for the split album with Emperor. It's surprising how close to the industrial black metal sound of the split album these early versions already sound, the songs containing a plethora of spiraling alien tremolo riffs, counterpoint bass and totally screwed up dissonant twists and turns. Following up on this is the Grymyrk tape, which can perhaps be most credited for the ease with which the second wave adopted these new ways to build riffs. This was pretty much a rehearsal or perhaps sample from Harald and Snorre for Bard and Marius to showcase the guitar and bass playing, for these six songs only consist of guitar and bass! If you ever want to let someone hear the very essence of second wave black metal, let them hear this! Even without drums and vocals these songs work amazingly well, since the guitar lines are so expressive that vocals aren't really needed and the demented bass pulsing and sawing provides enough of its own rhythm and tempo. This is then followed up by the demo and rehearsal from the Stigma Diabolicum days and another early Thorns rehearsal and as I intimated above, the fact that this sounds so amazingly developed and modern for material from 1989-90 is just shocking. There's barely any hint of death metal influence. While Marius does employ a rather deep vocal style and the drumming and bass have that heavy, bludgeoning sound of first wave extreme metal, it's again the guitar lines that steal the show here. This is modern black metal! Stuff Blut aus Nord and Deathspell Omega are hailed for nowadays was pioneered here, not as a primitive proto-form, but already fully developed! Listening for the first time to this material will probably be a feast of recognition, seeing as almost every riff on here has been plagiarized almost a hundred times in the over fifteen years since these songs first surfaced.

Anyone who is even moderately a fan of black metal really needs to hear this. Not only are the songs here of extreme historical significance, their truly modern sound and exceptional compositional and technical quality ensure that this is mandatory listening for more than just historical reasons. Early Thorns is of the same groundbreaking significance as Under a Funeral Moon, Emperor, Hordanes Land, Total Holocaust, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Mayhem's live-shows with Dead and Euronymous. Now you finally have the chance to hear this for yourself. Do so fast though, because as is usual with this genre, Stigma Diabolicum is limited to 1000 copies.

June 15th, 2008