Tony Martin – Thorns (2022)

November 6, 2023

Thorns is the very recent full length album by once-Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin. With Sabbath, and I’m guilty of this myself, his output is often overlooked, which is a shame because albums like Headless Cross have gone on to be my favourites from Black Sabbath.

Anyway, let’s talk about Thorns. Thorns has a stacked line-up, and a polished, modern sound. This gives Martin’s rock numbers a shot in the arm, essentially I guess this is Martin’s version of Painkiller (lol). Never thought I’d hear LD.50-era Mudvayne slap bass on a Tony Martin song but hey, life is full of surprises.

Most of the songs here are very, very good indeed, and I’m very to happy to see that Tony Martin has such a strong and unique voice, even into his old age. Age is no doubt the enemy of heavy metal vocalists, especially those who have legacies built in hitting the higher notes. I’m not saying that Martin can still belt out the chorus to “Headless Cross”, but he’s still got a fantastic range, and his voice is very balanced.

What draws points from Thorns however is some of the most awful songs I have ever heard in my entire life. One of these was on Tony’s last album, Scream, and there is – of course – one here too. I’m talking about “No Shame At All”, with some of the cringiest lyrics I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing, and on top of that the song itself sounds like something Mushroomhead would have created in 2010, which is uhhh, not great, folks. This album is also front-loaded, with all the best stuff at the front.

Oh, and that art. Good heavens above!