October Thorns 'Promo/Demo 2000'

Now, what I have here is a six-song Promo (or maybe Demo) CD from Brooklyn's own October Thorns. I have to admit that I got this CD free of charge, courtesy of Paul LaPlaca, and thus I must give this band a good review. No, wait a minute, did not I just say that this band hails from New York?! As some of you in the world of sports probably know, Cleveland Indians have always fought hard to win the World Series, but never quite got to the very end, while New York Yankees win those practically every year, so maybe it's time for me to get a little revenge and smash this band's effort to pieces?! :-) OK, all fooling and joking aside, I will certainly evaluate this recording on the merits of its musical content alone, so fasten your seat belts, here we go. I would say that the whole October Thorns 'Promo/Demo 2000' offering is unevenly divided into two parts, one being into the more progressive and melodic field (as evidenced on tracks 'Page One', 'Circle Game', 'No Idle Phrase' and 'Jihad') and the other, represented by 'Soul Forge' and 'Exhausted Minds' (strangely enough some parts of this song remind me of Dimmu Borgir!), showcasing more of a hard-hitting, punchy songwriting more interested in pure aggression than melody (although melody never completely disappears throughout the whole record). In my opinion, it's good and bad at the same time. Good because you don't wanna hear the same song being played six times throughout the album (even in case of bands like Marduk). Bad because I, personally, prefer their more melodic compositions and find the remaining two songs to be of a lesser quality than the rest of this CD. OK, I think it's time to make a huge confession and say that I have not really heard a whole lot of progressive music through the years, so October Thorns will both benefit and suffer because of it. I did hear and like Dream Theater's 'Change of Season' EP, but it was about two years ago, so it's not really gonna help me in reviewing this Promo. As for Fates Warning, I simply don't like this band. But anyway, I still will try to pull my favorite trick and compare October Thorns at least to some of the bands I know. But before I do it, I have to say that this Promo/Demo surprised me quite a bit as well as reinforced my belief in the American scene. Sure as hell the number of shitty copycat bands is still much bigger than a handful of those collectives that try to do something original and/or possess some talent, but it's always great to discover cool new bands, and October Thorns is one of them. I am not saying that this is a perfect record,

because guys do have to put some more thought in their arrangements and sound could be better too. But, hello, we are talking about a Demo here, not about a full-length album recorded for Warner Brothers with a big time producer! Music itself is very, very good and so is their ability to handle their respective instruments. There is no single tempo pattern that runs across this album, as October Thorns easily switch between faster and slower parts, although they never get too speedy or too doomy. I already mentioned that I prefer their more lighthearted compositions, and if you get ahold of this CD you will understand why. While Thorns' harder material is not bad at all, it can not match a brilliance found on such songs as 'Circle Game' and 'No Idle Phrase' (my favorite tracks) where melodic guitars intertwined with some nice (but not saccharine) keyboard lines create a very moody atmosphere. Add some of the most heartbreaking and soul touching (although not completely professional, hooray!) vocals, and there you have it. I also should add that their music sits comfortably somewhere in the middle between the realm of Metal and Hard Rock, successfully utilizing bits and pieces of both worlds. OK, now to my favorite part - comparison! :-) I certainly don't intend to say that October Thorns sound like any of the bands I am going to mention, because they don't, but I rather want you to get some idea of what they sound like if all I said before was not enough for you to make up your mind and get in touch with this very promising band. So, I would say a tiny bit of Dream Theater (if I remember their music correctly), some Soul Cages (I see people making these strange faces as they try to remember who the hell Soul Cages are), and The End Records' Sculptured stripped of all death and doom Metal influences. Probably something else, but please don't make my brain to work too hard here - it can explode any minute now! I did not mention the lyrics, because they are not included with CD that I got, but believe it or not this time around I DID get on the Internet and read the words to all six songs! Well, poetry is OK, although not always easy to interpret (except for 'Jihad', which is kinda self-explanatory), but maybe to get people thinking was the initial intention of the band, so no problem here. To sum their lyrics up I could use From The Depths' song 'Bereavement': "Bless me and rape and rip me apart, flowing so greatly from long black hearts. Fleeing, bereaving we both can share (reaching out for hope and not really care)". Yes, just like that - feelings, emotions, questions... Guys also angrily mention in one of the songs 'backyard swimming pools', and I totally agree with them on this one: pools suck, Lake Erie rules! :-) P.S. A hint to my readers: do yourself a favor, and check these guys out, they deserve it! The URL is very simple: www.octoberthorns.com P.P.S. A hint to a wise record company: Sign them, give them a decent budget, watch them grow and excel their already impressive songwriting skill, reap the rewards (but don't get too greedy!). Andy.