Arizonian death-doom solo act Thorn has been toiling away in the metal mineshafts for the past 5 years of societal decay, finding refuge in enclosed spaces one can only describe as dark, dank, and, most likely, damp. Just look to the project’s album and EP covers: most all of them depict some kind of cave or chasm; be it the sprawling underground biome of Evergloom, the gaping maw of an entrance on Yawning Depths, or the crude illustration of a cosmic grotto that adorns the first album, Crawling Worship. All other things equal, sole member Brennen Westermeyer might have taken the cavernous part of cavernous death metal a bit too literally.

Regardless, this towering track from the upcoming Nebulous Womb of Eternity, which is complete with its own egg-sheltering cave of horror cover, is an immediate and punchy take on the classically dense sound originated by Incantation and Imprecation. While this style has been almost done to death by countless 20 Buck Spin affiliate groups with silly names, Thorn seems to aim for a more matured take on the sound, now four albums in.

Comparing “Entombed in Chrysalis” to previous records shows a significant amount of growth in terms of songwriting. The composition has been streamlined to emphasize the most important elements, allowing for the song to breathe in that wet, moldy cave air. The atmosphere, as such, is much thicker, with the breathing room allowing the instruments to reverberate off of the stone walls without becoming cluttered beyond reason. It’s always a great sign to see an artist who is willing and able to grow and deliver work that improves upon the last.

The new song in question has a monstrous 8 and a half minute run time, but only around half of that is dedicated to the actual song proper. At around 4 minutes and 30 seconds, the composition ends and leaves the rest of the track to revel in its own atmospherics, depicting what field recordings of the album cover might sound like. Various strange fauna buzz and pitter-patter through wet grounds and past uneasy echoes and murky water streams. All this before a blood-orange tinted vessel that almost certainly surrounds a beast that any and all explorers should probably aim to avoid. The tracklist of Nebulous Womb seem to detail this setting with a clear unease, with such lovely song titles as “Zombifying Mold,” “Ooze Maelstrom,” and “Gloaming Corporeal Form.” This is all to say that, when that egg hatches, its time to hit the fucking bricks.

As for the song itself, the cave-y death-doom on display carries with it clear melodic overtones and murky atmospherics. A quote from Westermeyer states that, on Nebulous Womb, he aimed to “…to up the ante…” and defined this new record as the “…culmination of 5 years of Thorn.” As such, you can hear the previous works filtered through this back-to-basics approach that is, as stated in the presser, “…more death metal that doom…”  The presser also compares the full-length to bands such as Mortician (assumedly due to the prevalent use of drum machines), Fluids (the rank, filthy sound profile), and Intestine Baalism (those surprising guitar melodies that balance out the supreme muck that Thorn specializes in), while also stating: “If you like the idea of death metal sounding massive, ponderous, and packed with heaving, earth-rumbling parts, this album is most certainly meant for you.”

From the teaser of music contained in “Entombed in Chrysalis,” I can’t help but agree. You can hear a decent amount of similarity with bands like Fetid and Undergang, but Thorn brings enough ambiance and filth to the table to make them worth highlighting. The track also fits the trajectory of the project on Nebulous Womb quite nicely, as it seems to be the sound of Thorn breaking through a chrysalis of death doom tropes to bring forth a leaner take on the sound, taking wing like some kind of overgrown, toxic-sludge-spewing butterfly – ready to guard its own cavernous domain from the ill-advised spelunkers that may aim to defile it’s not-so-delicate ecosystem.

Nebulous Womb of Eternity is out August 8th on Transcending Obscurity