On Thorns I Lay is a Greek death-doom and gothic metal band founded in Athens in 1992. The group has gone through different stylistic facets throughout its career, starting with death metal in their early days, then transitioning to a blackened death-doom symphonic style with their first EP, and later embracing atmospheric doom-death in their early albums and later gothic metal with their subsequent albums. On Thorns I Lay is among the bands of the first major gothic doom wave that systematized the principle of contrasting vocals known as the "beauty and the beast" style that became popular in the late 1990s. Towards the end of the first part of their career in the early 2000s, they shifted towards a more stripped-down and introspective rock-metal style.
The band went on hiatus in 2006, for almost ten years. They reunited in 2015 and gradually returned to the doom-death style of their beginnings. They have released four albums since their reunion, the most recent of which was released in October 2023. It is noteworthy that the group experienced a split in 2021–2022. Several of its members, including the singer, guitarist, and former drummer, left the band to reform their original band, Phlebotomy, thus reactivating a previous incarnation of the group under which they also released a record in 2023.
Through the years, the band's played in Greece and in Europe together with Dream Theater, In Flames, Anathema, Amorphis, Katatonia, Tiamat, The Gathering, Satyricon, Septic Flesh and many more.
History First period: Early years (1992–1997)
The band was founded in 1992 under the name Paralysis at the same time as their colleagues Rotting Christ, Septic Flesh, Necromantia, and Nightfall. They started making a name for themselves in the local and underground scene of that time. The group, consisting of three members at the time, played in the style of brutal death metal. They recorded a demo under this name, titled Beyond Chaos. Since there was another Dutch band with the same name, they changed their name to Phlebotomy in 1993, in reference to the medical practice of bloodletting, which seemed fitting for the death music they played. The group expanded their ranks at this point, becoming a quintet that added two new members, Andreas Bereris and Tolis. Under this name, they recorded two promos and an EP titled Dawn of Grief, which gained some success for a demo and sold almost 2000 copies. Their record explores a form of atmospheric doom-death with symphonic elements and occult moods, enriched with ethereal female voices and brutal deep voices, inspired by the sound of early albums by bands like Celestial Season, The Gathering, and others.
Over time, their style evolved, and they felt the need to change their name again, this time to On Thorns I Lay (1994). The term comes from a quote by Shakespeare and was suggested by Efthimis Karadimas, the vocalist of the Greek band Nightfall. In 1994, the band released a new demo titled Voluptuous, which caught the interest of the French label Holy Records and led to a contract with the band. This allowed the group to realize their first album, Sounds of Beautiful Experience (1995) which was recorded at the Storm studio The album includes several of their earlier songs written for their demos, with new arrangements that fit the band's evolving style. It is characterized by an atmospheric and experimental death-doom with influences of black metal, cold wave, and a symphonic touch. With this album, the band came to be associated with the extreme avant-garde metal scene of the 1990s due to its experimental and diverse character. The guitarist and main composer simply describes it as a death metal album with many atmospheric parts and an experimental touch. Their next album Orama was record at the Passion Studio and was released in 1997. Marked by the growing influence of doom-death bands like My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Paradise Lost, it marked a clear development, particularly in the contrast vocals of "beauty and beast." The band introduced a very deep growling vocal, contrasted with the melodic and oriental voices of singer Georgia Grammaticos. Their music combines influences from death-doom, gothic metal, and atmospheric layers. As noted by critics, the album creates an aquatic and nostalgic atmosphere that aligns well with the theme of Atlantis. The album was well received by the press, acknowledging the significant evolution of the band. For instance, in a review from that time, journalist Nicolas Radegout commented:"
During this time, the band also recorded a song for the Holy Bible compilation of their label titled the Lyries of Eoulous and a cover version of Paradise Lost's for the tribute album .
Second period: The Romanian period of the band (1998–2002)
In 1998, the founding members of the band departed from their native country to pursue their studies in Romania in the field of medicine. The bassist explained that they made this choice due to the complexity of the Greek university system for enrollment. According to him, this clarifies the reason why many young Greeks opt to head to Bucharest for their studies. Consequently, they were compelled to part ways with their drummer Fotis and vocalist Georgia Grammaticos. Their keyboardist Roula Mammalis, who was the girlfriend of guitarist Chris, had previously departed from the group following their breakup. During their stay, they developed connections with local bands, particularly the Romanian doom-death group known as GOD - the Barbarian Horde. They would later recruit several members of this band for the recording of their upcoming album: Andrei (Andrew) Olaru (drums), Elena Doroftei (viola), and her sister Ionna Doroftei (keyboards), all hailing from the Moldavian city of Iași and pursuing classical music education at the Romanian faculty of music. The group viewed these three musicians as having brought a breath of fresh air, a sort of rebirth as this combination facilitated the fusion of Greek oriental influences with the melancholic elements contributed by the Romanian piano and viola. Apart from the performances by Helena and Ionna Doroftei along with drummer Andrew Olaru, they also enlisted the services of jazz Romanian vocalist Marcela Buruiana, who would leave her mark on the records with her gentle, angelic, and melancholic voice. Residing in the capital of Bucharest for their studies, in southern Romania, they had to regularly make train trips back and forth to reach Iași, located far to the north, where the other Romanian members of the band lived.
They recorded the album at the studio Migas Real of Bucharest in November 1998 with producer Vlad Gorginski. The new album titled is released in May 1999 The year and marks a new stylistic turning point in the stylistic orientation band. In this release, the band moved away from doom-death influences and delved into a more atmospheric, introspective, and melancholic form of atmospheric gothic metal. The group claimed to have been influenced at that time by the sound of Lacuna Coil, My Dying Bride and Celestial Season. The objective was, as described by singer and bassist Stephanos Kintzoglou, "to craft a simpler, yet sadder music than ever before". The viola parts and female vocals are meant, "to immerse in despair". For this album, they took the opportunity to re-record one of the songs from their debut album (1995), which had been among the favorites of their fans, titled "All is Silent," as described by the singer and bassist. As he explained, the group had been somewhat frustrated with what they felt as poor production on the Sounds of Beautiful Experience record, and thus, they aimed to create a new version by incorporating viola parts and female vocals.
On their next album, On Thorns I Lay continues the exploration of a dark melancholy described by Tati Seiber as the "deadly silence of Romania." The music on this album is stylistically situated somewhere between the styles of My Dying Bride, Anathema, and Katatonia. Nevertheless, the band strives to develop their own originality, creating a unique sound based on the interplay of polyphonies of lead guitars in combination with keyboard and viola parts, comparable to the violin sections in the style of Celestial Season in the past. On this album, the band enlisted the services of a second singer, Claudia J., alongside Marcela Buruiana and Stefanos Kintzoglou. This provides them with the opportunity to work on arrangements with three voices. The band also engages the services of Romanian musicians Evans M (drums) and Mihai Coran (keyboard). "Future Narcotic" was recorded at the professional Magic Sound studio in Bucharest. The album continues in the vein of Crystal Tears, but introduces certain experimental and ambient influences. In substance, Stefan Glas describes Future Narcotics as "a consistently high-quality album by On Thorns I Lay that reveals both old strengths and a new face." Shortly after the album's release, the band, in possession of seven tracks they had recorded for Future Narcotic but ultimately decided not to include in the album, contemplated releasing them in the form of a mini-CD. The label Holy Records displayed reluctance and instead preferred to incorporate them into a new extended edition of Future Narcotic, despite the reservations of the group, who were uneasy about requiring fans to pay again for a portion of the tracks they already had. Following their announced decision to return to Greece after completing their studies, the Romanian members of the band, Claudia J. and their drummer Evan, chose to leave the group as they did not share the band's intention to follow them to Greece.
In the year 2002, the band recorded with their fifth album named titled Angel Dust, still inspired by the dark and melancholic atmosphere they had experienced in Romania. They adopted a more stripped-down approach, where the violin, keyboards, and female vocals played a lesser role. Heavily influenced by Katatonia, the band aimed to reduce these elements, as they had grown weary of them, and preferred to play a pure and melancholic style of metal. However, their music retains certain elements of their previous albums, with occasional appearances of Buruiana's female vocals and Elena Doroftei's viola lines. At the conclusion of their studies, they returned to Greece after completing the album.
Third period: Return to Greece (2002–2006) and hiatus (2006–2014)