The Thorn - Hermitage Of Non-Divine
Psycho Records

file under speed / thrash metal

Jan-Simon: ‘Hermitage Of Non-Divine’? I have seen strange CD-titles, but we clearly have a winner here. Perhaps it is a cryptic puzzle, or a Polish joke translated into English, but whatever it is, I do not understand it.
It could be a randomly generated title, there are nice tools for that purpose available on the internet (like here).

The persons responsible for this CD call themselves The Thorn since 2005, but have been active under various names and in various compositions since 1992. After debuting in 2002 as Thorn (without “the”), this is the second official CD by the five some from the Polish provincial town Płock.
In Płock the latest trends in metal come a bit later, because the CD by The Thorn sounds as if it was made in the mid-90s. In present terms they make a form of death-thrash “light”, but that is not bad to hear every now and then. According to their bio this is thrash with elements of death metal and lots of melody. Very accurate description, but then again: they have had 16 years to come up with this.

‘Hermitage Of Non-Divine’ is a very diverse album, not strange after reading such a “little bit of this, little bit of that” description. Opener ‘Never Seen Before’ (let’s not count ‘Intro’) is a fast, straight-to-the-target stomper, ‘Silent’ starts as an old, radio-friendly ballad before changing into a less virtuosic, less dangerous version of Mastodon. It is obvious, The Thorn learned all the right tricks, knows all the guitar- and drum sounds and riffs during all those years of practising and making demos. It results in an entertaining record that never gets really special, but the combination of technical thrash with the right doses of deathmetal prevents it from being just the umpteenth metal record.

Do not expect to be blown out of your chair by its brilliant production or amazing original compositions you have never heard before in your life. You will not find it here. The Thorn is not an extreme band, like countrymen Graveland, Behemoth or Vader. But then again, you do not want to eat cake every day. A simple sandwich with cheese is nice too.

Rating: 75/100 (details)

http://www.thorn.w.pl