Thorns is a Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

band that formed in 1989 and was part of the early Norwegian black metal scene. They made two highly influential demos in the early 1990s, ''Grymyrk'' and ''Trøndertun'', but have only released one full-length album.

History

In 1989, Snorre Westvold Ruch (born January 21, 1972), also known under the stage name Blackthorn, and Marius Vold formed the band Stigma Diabolicum and recorded one demo.Thorns: ''Stigma Diabolicum'' (A5 Leatherbook version), Kyrck Productions 2007. In 1990, bass player Harald Eilertsen and drummer Bård „Faust“ Eithun joined. As the use of Latin within black metal "had escalated" (according to the ''Stigma Diabolicum'' re-release booklet), the name was changed to Thorns in 1991. The same year, Eilertsen and Ruch recorded the '' Grymyrk'' demo, which had a great impact on the black metal scene and, together with Mayhem guitarist

Euronymous Øystein Aarseth (; 22 March 1968 – 10 August 1993), better known by his stage name Euronymous, was a Norwegian musician and a founder of and central figure in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He was a co-founder and guitarist of the N ...

, coined the Norwegian black metal riffing, as Darkthrone drummer

Fenriz Gylve Fenris Nagell (born Leif Nagell; 28 November 1971), known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host (with the show "Radio Fenriz")

points out. As the band members were "spread far across Norway", they could rarely rehearse; some of the rehearsals were recorded on tape. In 1992, the ''Trøndertun'' demo was recorded. The same year, Ruch became Mayhem's second guitarist and disbanded Thorns for a few months. In 1994, Ruch was sentenced to 8 years in prison for admitting to being an accomplice in the murder of Euronymous. However, according to Euronymous's murderer,

Varg Vikernes Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes; 11 February 1973), better known as Varg Vikernes (), is a Norwegian writer and retired musician best known for his early black metal albums and later crimes. His first five records, issued under the name Burz ...

, Ruch was merely "in the wrong place at the wrong time". After a long period of silence due to Ruch's imprisonment for being an accomplice in the murder of Euronymous, Thorns reappeared in 1999 with the split album ''Thorns vs. Emperor'', consisting mainly of old Thorns songs performed by Emperor and vice versa. Then, in 2001, the debut album ''

Thorns Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

'' was released, with

Hellhammer Hellhammer was a Swiss metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often r ...

on drums and vocals by

Satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...

and

Dødheimsgard Dødheimsgard (also known as DHG) is a Norwegian extreme metal band formed in 1994. Dødheimsgard originally played black metal, but 1999's '' 666 International'' saw them change their style into experimental and avant-garde/industrial metal. In ...

's Aldrahn. In October 2007, Greek label Kyrck Productions released the ''Stigma Diabolicum'' compilation, which featured both the ''Grymyrk'' and ''Trøndertun'' demos, as well as material from the Stigma Diabolicum demos ''Lacus de Luna'' and ''Luna de Nocturnus'' and two tracks ("Thule" and "Fall") from a 1991 Thorns rehearsal. A follow up to the 2001 debut was announced in September 2008. The band line up has undergone significant changes since the 2001 album. Snorre is still handling the guitars and Aldrahn will be performing all the vocals on the upcoming album. Bassist Jon Wesseltoft, guitarist Christian Broholt, and drummer Kenneth Kapstad have joined the band.

Members

*Snorre Ruch – guitars/keyboards/programming *Jon Wesseltoft – bass/baritone guitar *Aldrahn – vocals *Christian Broholt – guitars *Kenneth Kapstad – drums

Former members

* Bård G. Eithun - drums *Marius Vold - vocals, bass *Harald Eilertsen - bass on '' Grymyrk'' *Terje Kråbøl - drums on ''Trøndertun'' *Ronny K. Prize - bass on ''Trøndertun'' *

- vocals on ''

'' *Aldrahn - vocals on ''

'' *

- drums on ''

Discography

; Demos * ''Luna De Nocturnus'' (1989) (as Stigma Diabolicum) * ''Lacus De Luna'' (1990) (as Stigma Diabolicum) * '' Grymyrk'' (1991) * ''Trøndertun'' (1992) * ''Thule'' (1992) ; Studio albums * ''

'' (2001) ; Other releases * ''Thorns vs. Emperor'' (1999) (split with

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

) * ''Stigma Diabolicum'' (2007) (compilation)

Related bands

Thorns Ltd. is an

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

/art-circuit offshoot of Thorns. The project was started in 2003 by Finn Olav Holthe (of

The 3rd and the Mortal The Third and the Mortal were a Norwegian metal band from Trondheim, founded in 1992. The band started out as doom metal, mixing distorted guitars and heavy drumming with clean guitars and vocals from Kari Rueslåtten. The band went on to experi ...

), Jon Wesseltoft and Snorre Ruch to explore the aesthetics of sound and its influence on the listener, using multichannel playback systems and various audio preparations. The band first produced sound for Norwegian visual artist

Bjarne Melgaard Bjarne Melgaard (born 9 September 1967) is a Norwegian artist based in New York City. He has been described as "one of Norway's most important artists" and, following the 2014 publicity about his sculpture ''Chair'', "the most famous Norwegian arti ...

's works displayed at the ''Playlist'' exhibition at the

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

in Paris in 2004. Ruch and Holthe had previously contributed sound to Melgaard's ''Interface to God'' exhibition at Kunsthalle zu Kiel in 2002. Thorns Ltd. has later contributed sound to works by New York artist

Banks Violette Banks Violette (born 1973) is an artist based in Ithaca, New York. Biography Violette was born in Ithaca, New York and studied at the School of the Visual Arts in New York earning at BFA in 1998, and graduated with an MFA from Columbia Univer ...

and others. Holthe left the band in 2006. Ruch and Wesseltoft have continued as Thorns Ltd. in addition to their work in Thorns.

References

External links

*
Thorns
on

Rockdetector MusicMight (formerly RockDetector) was a rock music website which provides artist and product information through a global website and an ongoing book series. Based in New Zealand, the site was founded by British writer Garry Sharpe-Young, and was ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

Interview with Snorre Ruch

Interview with Bjørn Dencker aka Aldrahn

Official Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorns Norwegian black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 1989 establishments in Norway Musical groups from Trondheim