These American black metal warriors have delivered an aggressive onslaught in its purest form. “Wrath Of War” smashes you in the face from the first to the last second with super-fast black metal that displays small death and even some doom metal influences. Thornspawn barely gives you any moments to catch your breath as they pound and smash through almost each and every song at full speed; the intensity of this aggressive album is just simply amazing and certainly Thornspawn’s strongest point. The production of this album is extremely raw and it fits Thornspawn’s aggressive music perfectly. Ok, the drums sound a bit muffled in the back but it is obvious that this band is not looking for any fancy sounding Dimmu Borgir production. Thornspawn is about true black metal unlike the million and one melodic black metal bands that are out there nowadays; and I must admit this band does a very good job at it too. No compromises and no keyboards, just pure black metal with a deep-rooted religious hatred that pours from it like blood from an open wound.

The compositions on this album are compact and very powerful; the amount of lead breaks is very limited but the ones Thornspawn uses are very well placed. Credit must also be given to the small death and doom metal influences and the demonical and chaotic guitar solos that remind sometimes of old Slayer. It is exactly these influences that set Thornspawn apart from the European brutal black metal bands. My only problem with this album however is the lack of diversity; and since almost every song is played at full speed it might bore quickly. Nevertheless “Wrath Of War” is an excellent brutal black metal album, which shows that brutal black metal can still be refreshing at times. Thornspawn is the living proof that black metal lives in the US and surprisingly enough many a European black metal could learn something from these diehard, anti-religion warriors! All you true black metal fans out there better make sure you don’t miss out on Thornspawn because they are bringing their war to Europe soon!