Like debut Plume, this nine track album is a damn near note-perfect mixture of Kraut rock and stoner rock, a record that thumps along with a consistent, machine-like rhythm but still manages to keep an earthy feel. Some tracks border on techno, with their surplus of programmed beats and assorted audio effects, but the interesting thing is how the band manages to use this seemingly restrictive style as the backdrop for improvisational jams. If anything, being shoehorned into a lockstep groove opens the band up. What's most appealing about Thorn of Thrones is how Giant Brain tweaks the conventional but never so much as to lose its immediate appeal. Strip away all the computer-driven layering and you still have a band that knows the ins and outs of a good song.