Tony Martin howled magnificently on several underrated '80s and '90s Black Sabbath albums. Now he has issued his fourth solo set, a varied and musicianly work that raises some questions. We require no answers, because it's more fun not knowing.
* * *
* Martin's lyrics transformed Black Sabbath from a band that was afraid of Satan to a band that celebrated Satan. Now he still feels obliged to include romantic-slanted deviltry in the songs "Damned by You," "Run Like the Devil," "This Is Your Damnation" and others. How much Lucifer is absolutely necessary?
* Martin worships Iron Maiden, Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, James Hetfield and Jerry Cantrell. Are they gods or devils?
*.Though known as a singer, Martin plays many instruments, including guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, bagpipes and violin. He fiddled furiously on the title track of his 2005 solo effort, "Scream." Who plays better fiddle, the devil or Tony Martin?
* Dunno who's pluckin' it, but is that a dobro on the largely acoustic "This Is Your Damnation"? In a metal context, pure balls. Same with "Crying Wolf," which is a g'damned tango!
* When Martin inserted "Volga Boatmen" into the chop-riffy "Passion Killer," did anyone laugh?
* "Thorns" features musicians from Sweden (Hammerfall bassist Magnus Rosén), Brazil (synthman Bruno Sá jams all over the place), Italy (guitarist Dario Mollo), the USA (guitarist & main songwriting collaborator Scott McClellan) and England (Venom drummer Danny Needham), who sound as if they're having a blast together. Where'd Martin stumble across all these ace players? A mall food court? An international airport? An ESL class?
* With its "Exorcist" chant, cathedral choir and harpsichord, "Book of Shadows" is hilarious. But when Laura Harford, a young person from Martin's own family, was tasked to make an "Omen"-like occult pronouncement at the end, was her mom okay with that?
* "Thorns" is recommended for fans of classic metal who have extremely open minds and don't take themselves overseriously. People like that exist, right? Cuz we're planning a party.