Allow me to go out on a limb here: the bathroom floor of a frat house on a Saturday night/Sunday morning has less bacteria and filth than Thorn’s newest record. But don’t be fooled into thinking Evergloom (Transcending Obscurity Records) is solely reliant on gag-inducing landscapes. The collective is armed with an innate ability to devise structured songs that possess personality and conjure truly frightening thoughts.

Evergloom is at times a soupy mess, bubbling with a puss-filled prowess. It’s laborious, struggling, and insidious. Even the melancholy has a pugilistic edge. Now those in the know shouldn’t be surprised a Transcending Obscurity band is presented in the most abhorrent of terms. And that’s the point. Thorn have no trouble pushing the musical envelope while also bathing in malaria-infested water.

This album is evocative to the nth degree. “Spectral Realms Of Ethereal Light” has an uneasiness akin to stepping barefoot unexpectedly into a foreign, moist substance. “Xenolith Of Slime” mimics being surrounded at night by murderous criminals. And the best way to describe “Sapien Death Spiral” is the insatiable 3 am hunger pain you can’t satisfy. 

More musically, “Hypogean Crypt” is boosted by drums that instill hair-raising unease. “Gaze Of The Seer” is frankly thick and sticky-ass chuggy. Perhaps most surprisingly is “Thanatos Basileos”, a titillating post-metal number featuring slowed voice distortion on point with the accompanying instrumentals. Just another notch in this group’s belt.

As grungy and derelict as Evergloom is, there is a clear and agreed-upon motive: imbue a sense of complete disgust and apprehension into a brand of death metal that belongs smack dab in the middle of a longstanding landfill. In other words, no amount of bathing in chemicals can fully rinse oneself of grime after a spin with this record.

Buy the album here: 

https://thorndm.bandcamp.com/album/evergloom

8 / 10

MATT COOK