Thorns

[Eoin McLove]

I've been listening to the Thorns album a lot over the last couple of weeks and despite its somewhat sterile, 'futuristic' production the songs are fairly savage.  I wonder what the thinking was behind Snorre Ruch hiring two different singers,  but the variety works well enough despite being somewhat unconventional. 

I was re-reading his interview in Cult Never Dies over the weekend where he was discussing the new album he was writing and that he would not use the same approach to recording in future,  rather he would go for a more organic sound,  but that interview was released in 2013 and conducted at some time before that with not a whisper of anything new since.  I'd love to hear more Thorns stuff with a less mechanical, Matrix style as the old demo stuff is creepy and highly unique and much of the creepiness is neutralized by the production on the album,  to my ear.

He seems like a unique fella,  perhaps a bit oddball, perhaps morally questionable- all of the requisite ingredients for a black metal visionary! Hopefully we'll hear new material under the Thorns banner in time.

[John Kimble]

Great album, fairly wore it out upon its release. Always thought of it as being quite similar, sonically at least, to Rebel Extravaganza, another album which I loved at the time. Haven't listened to either in years, and always thought that due to the futuristic production, as already mentioned, that perhaps it wouldn't age all that well.
Can't remember where I got the impression from, perhaps it was Vargs description of him from Lords of Chaos, but always had this vague notion that Snorre was perceived as a bit of a simpleton by his peers.

[Eoin McLove]

He describes himself in the Evolution of the Cult interview as being like the quiet, autistic kid in the corner who was a bit socially awkward.  He was portrayed as a big, dopey retard in the Lords of Chaos film,  kind of like Varg's personal gimp.  Then again,  Varg was played by a fat Jew in the film so the whole thing should be taken with a large pinch of salt 

He comes across as being quite ordinary and self- effacing in that interview.  Certainly not playing the cult evil card, by any stretch. The important thing is that he was massively influential in the early days of the Norwegian BM movement,  purely based on his musical vision,  and it would be cool to hear what he might come up with today.

[Eoin McLove]

I have the Thorns album on at the moment and it reminded me that Mayhem made a post recently on Twitter showing a photo of Snorre and indicating that something new was under way from him.  Hopefully that promised second album isn't too far off.  It will be interesting to see if he hires Satyr and Aldrahn again to contribute lyrics and vocals or if he'll try something else.

[mickO)))]

One band / album I never got into but never gave much time either I must revisit.

I think something new is on the way have seen the band being discussed a lot recently on the other forums.

[Eoin McLove]

Yeah,  I never liked it before due to the production but I got into it over the past few months.  Worth revisiting.

[Blizzard Beast]

I only  stuck these lads on recently after a long hiatus along with Dodheimsgard !

[Eoin McLove]

I had the first DHG on directly after Thorns.  So much cool music from that era.

[Blizzard Beast]

Yeap did the exact same

[Eoin McLove]

New interview with Snorre up on the Thomas Eriksen podcast. I just hit play.

[Don Gately]

OK I checked this album out on the strength of the recommendations here and it is very good. I actually like the production, I think there is an industrial vibe off the album that the production underscores, especially on  Shifting Channels. Thanks for this.