One of the very first, if most obscure Black Metal projects out of Norway. THORNS is essentially a solo endeavour of keyboard player Snorre Ruch having first emerged with the 1989 demo tape 'Grymyrk'. The Trondheim act was rooted in STIGMA DIABOLICUM, a trio comprising of Ruch on guitar, vocalist Marius Vold and drummer Bård C. Eithun. This band released the 'Luna Des Nocturnus' demo tape before Ruch cut loose to found THORNS. Eithun became better known as 'Faust' of EMPEROR infamy whilst Vold would go on to front ARCTURUS. The 'Grymyrk' demo would see session bass donated by Harald Eilertsen. A further cassette, 'Trøndertun' in 1992 minus Eilertsen, had Terje Krabøl on drums. Ruch had also made his presence felt heavily on the seminal MAYHEM album 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' being integral in the songwriting process. In 1996 Eilertsen forged Thrash Metal act FROST.

Internationally THORNS became a curiosity due to their split 1998 album with EMPEROR. Ruch would also donate his rendition of 'Pagan Winter' to the Moonfog DARKTHRONE tribute album of the same year 'Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone'. Ruch was persuaded out of seclusion by SATYRICON's Satyr Wongraven for a selection of tracks on the Moonfog compilation 'A Different Perspective'. As well as including two tracks from the EMPEROR split the album, which found Ruch now billed as 'S.W. Krupp', included unreleased recordings that saw both Satyr Wongraven and Fenriz of DARKTHRONE sessioning. A further eponymous full length album release arrived in 2001. Wongraven would both produce and contribute lead vocals alongside DØDHEIMSGARD and ZYKLON B man Draug Aldrahn (a.k.a. Björn Dencker Gjerde). Drums came from the esteemed figure of MAYHEM, ARCTURUS and THE KOVENANT man Hellhammer (Jan Axel von Blomberg). Returning the favour Ruch would make a marked impression on SATYRICON's 'Rebel Extravaganza' album.

Snorre Ruch took the project into ambitious new fields in 2004 with the development of THORNS LTD, a distinctly separate entity from THORNS dedicated to crafting experimental music tailored specifically for art exhibitions. This new outlet debuted at contemporary Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard's exhibition at the Palais De Tokyo museum in Paris. A new composition would then premier at New York artist Banks Violet's show in London in September.

January of 2005 found Satyr of SATYRICON acting as co-producer on new material for THORNS. Activities for ex-THORNS man Bard Eithun in early 2005 included enrollment into the high profile SCUM, joining Italian Black Metal act ABORYM and Punk outfit BOMBEROS, featuring former MAYHEM singer Maniac. Faust also teamed up with Oslo Thrash act BLOOD TSUNAMI in mid 2005.