CoC : Thornspawn - Wrath of War : Review

Thornspawn - _Wrath of War_
(Osmose, 2002)
by: Paul Schwarz (2 out of 10)

It's a sad thing that no band has yet emerged to claim Angelcorpse's vacated throne over the fifedom of early-Morbid Angel and Possessed infused, angel dust-addicted death metal; but it's a sadder thing that a number of the more highly-praised underground names of today sound at their best when they're ripping them off -- and -still- don't sound -particularly- good. Abominator, Summon, Conqueror and, our case in point, Thornspawn, all suffer from this -- while their more "black metal" elements are similarly surpassed by the likes of In Battle and Svartsyn. Why such bands are still not only praised but held up on high by some as sterling examples of underground metal, is a mystery to me. Thornspawn are one of the worst of this bunch. Their anti-Christian sentiments are laughably worn on their sleeves -- they organise the San Antonio "Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child" festival every year -- Thornspawn are the worst kind of "true", "black metal" band. They are repetitive to mind-numbing extreme, write boring riffs, rely on other bands for their good parts, and record with a rough production which makes them sound crap -- rather than giving them atmosphere. Had _Wrath of War_ been -any- good, I might have been tempted to check out Thornspawn's previous two albums (I already had to endure their _Consecraton of Evil Flesh_ demo when I reviewed it back in CoC #33). As it is, I not only hope never to hear them again, I hope they never make another sound again.

(article published 1/9/2002)

ALBUMS
5/13/2001	A McKay	7	Thornspawn - Empress From the Realms of Blasphemy
8/12/2000	A McKay	8	Thornspawn - Blood of the Holy, Taint thy Steel

DEMOS
9/1/1998	P Schwarz	2	Thornspawn - Consecration of Evil Flesh