When those Greeks were still signed on Holy Records, their music was, I could I say… average? Very average? Or maybe even boring! That’s why I had a certain lack of interest when I received their latest album, “Egocentric”. But that was a bad thing, because ON THORNS I LAY have changed a lot lately, and in a good way. The time of cheesy female vocals and cheap keyboards atmosphere seems to be over now, and the first comparisons that will come to mind are such bands as KATATONIA or OPETH, though the Greeks are still under the level of those two cult bands.

But the melancholic spirit is there, the vocals of Minas tend to sound a bit like ANATHEMA’s, and some Goth/Rock atmospheres will definitely make you remember of those good old DIABOLIQUE. You will also note some passages with a SOUNDGARDEN feeling, and o horror, a very short but quite lame passage that sounds too Nu-Metal to me. But with such tracks as “Life Can Be” and “Gallant Nights”, ON THORNS I LAY have now gained all my esteem… (Online February 17, 2004)