Melbourne metalcore five-piece THORNHILL today announce details of their hugely-anticipated debut full-length album ‘The Dark Pool’, due for release on Friday October 25via UNFD. Introduced by pelting lead single and video ‘Nurture’, The Dark Pool marks Thornhill’s next assault on an expectant heavy scene.
Since emerging in 2016, the band have made a playground of the Australian heavy sphere, earmarking themselves as one of the country’s most refreshing and unrelenting emerging acts. Having stretched their touring muscles alongside the likes of Northlane, Architects, Parkway Drive, In Hearts Wake and Polaris and impressed with releases including their 2018 EP Butterfly and recent single ‘Coven‘, the clever and colourful
‘The Dark Pool’ promises to be a breakout for THORNHILL.
From the unrelenting riffage of ‘Nurture’, to the sweltering breakdown of ‘Views From The Sun’, and the breathy moment of rest on ‘All The Light We Don’t See’, The Dark Poolcaptures the breadth and depth of this group’s knockout brand of heavy. On its musicality, Thornhill lead vocalist Jacob Charlton explains that:
“We wanted it to have enough difference that people would be surprised, and it would also allow us to keep branching out down the track. We wanted to sprinkle enough in The Dark Pool that we could continue to build on, we never want to pigeon hole ourselves into a genre, that was never the point of Thornhill. We just want to be exactly who we want to be every single time.”
Thematically, he shares that each track touches on various common threads of humanity. ‘Nurture’ is a commentary on idolising someone/something and losing yourself in the middle of that, and elsewhere the record touches on anxiety (‘Coven’), body image (‘In My Skin’), the afterlife (‘Where We Go When We Die’) and loss (‘Lily & The Moon’). On the genesis of its namesake, Jacob explains it refers to a dark, reflective pool where we can all see a mirror of ourselves and what makes us who we are. While each track is closely linked Jacob’s reality, he encourages listeners to reflect on their own experiences and take their own meanings from his lyrics.
“I’ve been dealing with pretty much everything on the album for as long as it’s been in the writing process, and that’s been a really long time. There’s been a lot of life and things that I’ve gone through in that time that and definitely translates… but I don’t want you to listen to this record and just think about me, because there are moments on there that everyone can relate to,” he says.
“For example, ‘Lily & The Moon’ is about my dog, but it’s also broadly about loss so everyone can relate to that in their own way, it could be about anyone someone has lost or is losing. It’s not supposed to be a story of sadness either, it’s supposed to be a reminder to make sure that we care enough about the people that we love while we still have them.”
THORNHILL will celebrate ‘The Dark Pool’ with a thumping hometown release show on Friday November 15. It goes down at Melbourne’s Stay Gold with support from Deadlights,Mirrors and Tapestry. Elsewhere, the band are due to support The Amity Affliction at Heaven and Hell Festival in September alongside Underoath, Crossfaith, Trophy Eyes,Void Of Vision, Pagan and more. They’ll also join Wage War on their recently-announced European run in January.
THORNHILL European tour dates with Wage War:
Jan 7: Bristol Fleece
Jan 8: Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Jan 10: Manchester Rebellion
Jan 11: Dublin academy Green Room
Jan 12: Glasgow G2
Jan 13: Newcastle Think Tank
Jan 15: Leeds Key Club
Jan 16: Birmingham O2 Institute 2
Jan 17: London O2 Academy Islington
Jan 18: Southampton The Loft
Jan 20: Amsterdam Melkweg Oz
Jan 21: Paris Backstage By The Mill
Jan 23: Cologne Gloria
Jan 24: Hamburg Gruenspan
Jan 26: Munich Technikum
Jan 27: Frankfurt Batschkapp
Jan 28: Antwerp Trix
‘THE DARK POOL’ TRACKLISTING:
1. ‘Views From The Sun’
2. ‘Nurture’
3. ‘The Haze’
4. ‘Red Summer’
5. ‘In My skin’
6. ‘All The Light We Don’t See’
7. ‘Lily & The Moon’
8. ‘Coven’
9. ‘Human’
10. ‘Netherplace’
11. ‘Where We Go When We Die’