Thornhill
Bodies

4.5
superb

Review

by s0nicx USER (3 Reviews)
April 4th, 2025 | 59 replies

Release Date: 04/04/2025 | Tracklist

Review Summary: The stage calls and the show must go on.

Its nearly impossible to talk about Bodies without bringing up what came before. The shadows cast by The Dark Pool and Heroine were immense and for almost entirely different reasons. For any band to reach the level of critical acclaim on their debut like Thornhill did has to put a great deal of pressure on the follow-up. Its what probably informed the bands decision to completely shift gears with Heroine, an admirable but deeply flawed attempt to forge a new path. Its not that changing directions was a bad idea, it might have been the best decision for the band but the execution was lacking, resulting in a mixed bag of some of Thornhills worst songs and great songs bogged down by shoddy production.

Bodies is a major improvement from Heroine in almost every regard with the most obvious one being its production, specifically the vocals. The overproduced and filtered vocals have been significantly toned back resulting in their use feeling far more organic and integrated with each track. The opening one-two punch of DIESEL and Revolver showcases this expertly with Jacob Charlton's vocals feeling like part of the soundscape. DIESEL's punchy rhythm in particular gets the listener immediately into the groove of Bodies and the emotional Revolver continues to showcase Thornhills ability to set an atmosphere for a song and album.

The major highlights are the singles. Nerv was the perfect first single to showcase for the album with its aggressive and fast paced verses and its soaring chorus. TONGUES is carried by Ben Maida's excellent rhythms. His drumming has often been the unsung hero of the bands previous works and that continues on Bodies. Silver Swarm is an amazing, chilled out Alt-Metal track that perfectly fits with the vibe of the rest of album along with having one of Jacobs best melodies on the record. There's also the re-recording of Obsession that improves its guitar tone and quiets out the weird phone bit in the original recording.

That's not to say this album is perfect. If you were expecting fall into the wind to come close to Thornhills previous connecting interludes like All the Light We Don't See or Netherplace then you will be sorely disappointed. And while I enjoy Only Ever You, it can definitely feel somewhat derivative compared to the rest of the album. Then there's the major oddity of CRUSH. A weird and out of place electronic track that frankly, could have been left on the cutting room floor and nothing would have been lost from the listening experience. After that the album gets back on track with under the knife and For Now, the latter continuing to show that Thornhill are incapable of making anything less than an excellent album closer.

Bodies isn't The Dark Pool but its clear that's no longer what Thornhill are going for and they probably shouldn't try too. Continuing with the sound The Dark Pool would have more than likely resulted diminishing returns. Heroine may have overall may have been a misstep but Bodies feels and sounds like what that record should have been. Its Alt and Nu-Metal influences fit the band far better here and its punchy production, tight song writing and performances sell the vibe and atmosphere completely even with a couple of bumps in the road.

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