Guitless : "Thorns"

 A new band formed by A Storm of Light and Intronaut members is bound to meet expectations for sludge fans. The lumbering stomp that opens this EP only confirms this, The vocals are a throaty bellow. The drumming is very deliberate. guitarist Josh Graham handled the visuals for Neurosis, so there is no surprise their influence weighs heavy on this. They have certainly keyed in a specific sound for what they do, which is somewhere between "Souls at Zero' and "Through Silver and Blood". There is a dark menacing stomp to "All We Destroy" which features some stellar drumming, that keeps this song in motion.  While dialing in a certain sound, they are still writing songs, not just riding the sonic choices they have picked here. The second song has more ebb and flow even if they use atmospheric noise to create this space. 

There is a more brooding feel to "Dead Eye' which gets more room to breathe, allowing the vocals to be more purposeful than just an obligatory roar. More credit goes to their drummer for making smart choices, and not overplaying, but also not just holding the beat. The rumble of the bass is impressive. This album is really well produced, and you get the feeling they captured things they intended here. With sludge, you want this big apocalyptic sound and they certainly knocked that off the charts. 

There is a lingering creepiness that leads into the last song. The drumming wastes no time to get it moving and never allows this album to get dragged into a drone. bark out his last wishes. His vocals have more form and function here as they  One of the main problems is this is just an ep rather than a full album which they might have had more room to experiment and bring new colors of sound to the table, instead of being so devoted to the sludge color by numbers unravelled here. The final minutes find an interesting dissolution into a dark ambiance. I will give this album an 8.5, as it sounds great and they do well with what they have created here. but it resembles Neurosis so much, which can not be by mistake since one of the guys was in Neurosis. But perhaps you are not as familiar with Neurosis and in that case it will be a surprise for your. 

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