Thorns

Thorns appears in the book as part of the network of Norwegian Black Metal bands that formed around Øystein Aarseth in the early 1990s. Its documented significance is chiefly relational: Bård Eithun is named as one of its players, and by mid-1991 the band was among those in contact with Aarseth. The account places Thorns within a scene shaped by music, personal authority, and a changing set of attitudes, while offering little band-specific information about its sound, releases, or internal history.

Place in the Norwegian scene

The book describes Norwegian Black Metal as more than a musical category. Belief and outlook mattered alongside sound, but there was no fixed rulebook: the scene’s boundaries shifted over time, often under the influence of its prominent personalities. In that environment, bands and their relationships to influential figures helped define what counted as part of the scene. Thorns is situated within this network, rather than introduced through a detailed account of its own origins or artistic development.

By mid-1991, Thorns was among a group of bands in contact with Aarseth. The same list includes Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Enslaved, Arcturus, and, later, Emperor. Aarseth planned to release most of these groups through Deathlike Silence Productions. This establishes Thorns’ connection to a developing label and social network, but it does not say that Thorns itself received a release deal or specify what material, if any, Aarseth planned to issue from the band.

The network was also a means of recognition and belonging. Ihsahn recalls the shop around Aarseth as an environment where newcomers had to be trusted and accepted, and where people sought the regard of Aarseth and older members of the scene. His account conveys both the shop’s authority and the scene’s demanding atmosphere. It helps explain the setting in which Thorns is named, though it does not describe particular encounters between Thorns and the shop’s community.

Bård Eithun and the band

The account’s clearest statement about Thorns’ personnel is that Eithun played in it, alongside Stigma Diabolicum and Emperor. It gives no further detail about his role in Thorns, how long he played with the band, or whether he contributed to particular recordings. The association therefore places him within the band’s history without making his other activities into facts about Thorns itself.

Eithun was also involved in the scene through his fanzine Orcustus, which corresponded with and interviewed significant figures in Norwegian Black Metal. The book later discusses his killing of Magne Andreassen and identifies a combination of Eithun’s long-standing fascination with murder and violence and the scene’s escalating atmosphere of transgression as factors that may have contributed to his state of mind. That account concerns Eithun and the surrounding scene; it does not attribute the murder to Thorns or identify the band as having participated in it. Keeping that distinction matters: a member’s documented actions are not, on the evidence given, actions of the organization.

A scene built through style and status

Other accounts in the book show how the scene’s public identity was made and contested. Mayhem’s early image, for example, initially consisted of ordinary black clothes and leather jackets; Aarseth later adopted corpse paint for performances and photographs, helping establish a visual marker associated with Norwegian Black Metal. Ihsahn, reflecting on his own youth, describes having once used extreme dress and strong opinions to provoke a response and confirm a sense of difference, before becoming more comfortable with his beliefs. These examples illuminate the wider importance of style and identity, but the source does not say that Thorns adopted any particular look or shared every view associated with the scene.

The same caution applies to the scene’s growing notoriety. The book describes media attention as helping Vikernes construct a near-mythological public image and intensifying internal competition for prominence. It also records that some church burners regarded their crimes as retaliation against Christianity. These developments form part of the historical environment in which the book places Norwegian Black Metal, not a record of actions by Thorns. The evidence connects the band to the network and names Eithun as a player; it does not establish Thorns as responsible for church arson, murder, or any other crime.

What the record establishes

Thorns’ profile in this account is consequently brief but specific. The band belonged to the circle of groups in contact with Aarseth by mid-1991, at a time when he was considering releases through Deathlike Silence Productions, and Eithun is identified as one of its players. The surrounding testimony explains why such connections carried weight: the scene was organized through access, acceptance, reputation, and the authority of prominent individuals as well as through music.

Beyond those points, the account leaves Thorns’ history largely open. It supplies no detailed biography of the band, no description of its sound, and no definite account of its recordings or performances. That absence limits what can responsibly be said, while making the band’s documented place in the network especially clear: Thorns is presented as part of the early Norwegian Black Metal milieu, but not as a fully chronicled actor in the book’s account of its crimes and conflicts.