People always ask about how many times can a Metal style live. Indeed it's a question that takes time to get the right answer: if it can be renewed without losing its identity, forever. That's the reason for bands like BLACK SABBATH, MOTORHEAD, IRON MAIDEN and many others that are still active and releasing good albums.

And the best test to see if the style can endure great trials is to see how the bands will be after it comes out of evidence. Imagine some bands after the prevalence of many styles that we passed since the middle of the 80s. Sleaze/Glam Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal, Melodic Power Metal and so on were the trends, but we saw and still see some of them releasing albums and making shows, always renewing their music to new generations. And it's the case from Greek Doom/Death Metal quintet ON THORNS I LAY, active since 1995, and is releasing their new album, "Eternal Silence" after 12 years of their last work, the album, "Egocentric".

Their musical style follows in the vein of bands like MY DYING BRIDE and THEATRE OF TRAGEDY in their earlier works, but a bit more aggressive and not using such long songs. But the weight, the elegant and melodic insight, and some abrasive moments with guttural vocals, along with depressive and beautiful moments with keyboards and/or violins, turn all the things extremely interesting and good.

"Eternal Silence" sound quality is very good, indeed. The production was done in a way that their musical work sounds pretty clean as they need, but heavy and nasty in their more aggressive moments, as well. And the guest musician, Labros Kiklis on violins, really added some very good moments to the album.

Their best feature is to use not so long songs as we commonly see in the style. One reaches more than 7 minutes, another one something beyond six minutes, and the others remains under 4 or 5 minutes.

The beautiful "Believe" (with excellent female vocals in a song melodic and tender, with very good tempos, and the pace is extremely good), "Breathing" with its nasty and heavy tempos along with very good keyboards, the tender and introspective ones "People We Hurt" (with a strong work from bass and drums, and once more, fine female vocals fill the entire song gently) and "One Day To Live", and the beautiful instrumental on keyboards and effects "Touching The Unknown" can be pointed as the album's finest moments, besides it's pretty good as a whole.

Very good come back, guys.<