By Jim Rowland

Armed with an uncompromising DIY spirit, Ohio thrash upstarts Thorns have skipped the industry queue entirely — building their own studio, self-recording and self-releasing two albums and multiple singles and rallying a worldwide following in under a year. Now they are back, ‘Ready To Strike’ with a new four song EP.

Taking inspiration from the first wave of 80s ÜS thrash metal acts like Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Anthrax and Metallica, Thorns tap into the raw energy and heads-down, no frills aural assault of those halcyon early days to produce something that is authentic and thrilling.

‘Bad Business’, ‘Muzzle’ and ‘Headcase’ are all blistering, raw and heavy old-school thrash belters that still find room for melody and meaningful lyrics. The vocal delivery of vocalist/guitarist Luke Schwarz is undeniably Hetfield-esque, which makes the comparison with early Metallica inevitable, but certainly no bad thing.

The final track ‘Sickfit’ slows things down, but still possesses a grinding, chugging heaviness.

I must admit, as great as those pioneering old guard bands were back in the 80’s, I find a lot of them lost that raw, more simplistic spirit some time ago, so it’s great to have new blood like Thorns channelling the energy of the early ÜS thrash metal scene that made it so exciting in the first place.