| Thorns Vs Emperor Moonfog , 1999 Lord Pale : Underground blackmetal legends return with their first recording since the dawn of the Norweigen scene , only one member remains S.W. Krupp aka Snorre who writes and executes all of the material with the help of Satyr ( Satyricon ) on vocals . Emperor and Thorns both cover a song of each other and present 3 new tracks for this versus album . Thorns new sound is definately more modernised than their old style but the seething darkness and slow tension building atmosphere of their earlier material can still be heard . Utilising samples and a fuzzy guitar sound Thorns do a new version of 'Aerie Descent' and reinterpret Empeor's 'Cosmic Keys To My Creations And Times' with new lyrics and a musical theme based around that tracks central riff . Their 2 new tracks are very promising for a future release and show a fresh original and dark sound . Emperor cover Thorns' 'Aerie Descent' in a brutal fashion with pounding kick drums and an organ outro and do a classical remake of 'Thus Spake The Night Spirit' similar to their 'Opus A Satana' track from the Reverence Ep . Emperor's newer material is far from anything they have ever done before with a very electronic sound with beatbox drums and lots of keyboards , samples and looped riffs and vocals . The music presented is of a high standard as is the typical Moonfog styled artwork throughout the booklet and cover . Overall a highly entertaining release giving to blackmetal legends a medium to experiment freely outside of their normal works . Favourite Tracks - The Discipline Of Earth ( Thorns ) , Aerie Descent ( Emperor ) , I Am ( Emperor ) Mark - 8/10 Thorns - Self Titled Moonfog, 2000 Lord Pale: Thorns long awaited debut album for Moonfog doesn't disappoint. Thorns mastermind S.W. Krupp has put together an all-star cast featuring Satyr (Satyricon) - vocals, Aldrahn (Dodheimsgard, Zyklon B) - vocals, and Hellhammer (Mayhem, Arcturus) - drums. Influences from both Satyricon and DHG can be heard throughout the album, like Rebel Extravaganza graceful riffs dance alongside military blastbeat rhythms in tracks like 'World Playground Deceit' and 'Existence'. Where as the DHG influences can be heard in tracks like 'Shifting Channels' where the guitars are cranked and chugging and Aldrahn is in vocal control. Some other songs on the album remind me of more polished attempts at the material Krupp tried to do on Thorns vs Emperor like the haunting 'Interface to God'. The album has the polished modern sound of all good Moonfog releases and some samples are included like industrial machinery and spoken passages reminiscent of Satyricons cover of 'Kathoarian Lifecode'. Overall a satisfying release. Favourite Tracks - World Playground Deceit, Stellar Master Elite, Existence Rating - 8.5/10 |
 |
| Website |
| THORNS |
 |
 |
 |