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THORN
Yawning Depths

Chaos / Gurgling Gore (2022)
Rating: 8/10

With an album cover that transports me back to the charmingly childish depths of the mid-to-late 80s, Phoenix, Arizona-based death / doom mongers Thorn – the solo project of Fluids frontman Brennen Westermeyer – introduces its sophomore outing just a year after the impressive Crawling Worship debut.

This eight-song offering is rather short at just under half an hour, with most tracks running around the two to three-minute mark – so savour it while you can.

Opener ‘Hellmouth’ sets the tone; a vile torrent of howling blizzards and aggressive gnashing, creating a blasting blitz of death metal grinding. And it’s the sort of cavernous, grim cacophony you’d expect from Brennen Westermeyer. ‘Hellmouth’, alongside those other hostile expressions is a great, bleak wall of sickness and aggression.

Nothing about Yawning Depths is inviting; the listener cannot penetrate the dense, barbaric mesh constructed by the bleak, nihilist severity.

The title track lumbers, oozing doominess but riddled with infected pustulous as guitar and drums become entangled in one vast mess of harrowing tumult, while ‘Cavernous Shrines’ empties its bowels in waves of melancholic pace before a howling, sombre lead infiltrates the murk.

‘Noxious Existence’ grinds with chainsaw charm as the vocal burps spew twisted melodies over every filthy rhythm, and the thick, feisty gloop of ‘Judgement’s Throne’ cascades like black, congealed soot.

Even six listens in, tracks such as ‘Lapis Lazuli’ still suffocate with its dreadful trudging as foreboding chords meander through timeless depths to the ominous percussive suspense.

Everything here is bleak, black, cold and hostile, whether delivered at rabid pace or slow, thickening gloom. I’m thankful then that Thorn’s newest creation is short, just like the life it has drained from me with every one of its gnawing, grinding angles of despair.

Neil Arnold

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