Thorns members resurface as The Deathtrip with new track

For long-term metal fans, the return of Snorre W Ruch and vocalist Aldrahn to the black metal scene is a cause for supremely grim celebration.

Having collaborated on 2001’s self-titled and thoroughly revered Thorns album (Dimmu’s Shagrath once claimed it was the only black metal album worth listening to in the 00s), the two have reunited once more at the behest of UK guitarist Host to form The Deathtrip, a band determined to mine the cold, ruthlessly driven sound of 90s black metal and recharge it to maximum capacity in the here and now.

Released on November 14 via the ever-reliable Svart Records, The Deathtrip’s debut album, Deep Drone Master, mixed by Snorre and featuring Alrdahn on vocals once more, is a masterful act of invocation: frostbitten but steeped in atmosphere, visceral groove and wide-eyed visionary sermonising that taps the same true current of classic black metal as 1349 but to even more intoxicating effect. Thanks to the fine people at Svart, we have a piledriving preview in the furious form of Flag Of Betrayal, a hyperventilating act of visionary abandon that sounds like a mad magus drilling into your pineal gland until it erupts with a psychedelic gush. Raise your claws to the ravaged heavens and give in to The Deathtrip below!

Check out The Deathtrip’s Facebook page here! And pre-order Deep Drone Master here!

Jonathan Selzer

Having freelanced regularly for the Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and edited the extreme metal monthly, Terrorizer, for seven years, Jonathan is now the overseer of all the album and live reviews in Metal Hammer. Bemoans his obsolete superpower of being invisible to Routemaster bus conductors, finds men without sideburns slightly circumspect, and thinks songs that aren’t about Satan, swords or witches are a bit silly.