Ocean Grove and Thornhill
O2 Islington Academy // London, England // 9 November 2025
Photos and review by Stuart Peach
2025 has been a bumper year for Thornhill, the release of their third album, Bodies, back in the spring and touring alongside Sleep Token on their US tour have been massive moments for the band this year. I’m one of those who was lucky enough to discover the band back in 2019 when their debut album, The Dark Pool, dropped and, at that time, their sound really scratched that crunchy metalcore itch. Aussie bands clearly just do it better and Thornhill are no exception to that rule. Their 2022 follow up, Heroine, opened up new sounds to the band and the album had an interesting set of videos that dropped alongside the singles.
Bodies is an absolute triumph of an album and spans the tone that the band have cultivated over the last 9 years. “Obsession” has been my literal obsession since that song dropped way back in 2024, the first single of the third album – coming out the gate swinging with crunchy tones and Jacob’s insane vocal range on display.
This was my third time seeing Thornhill and with each time there’s been such growth in their live sound. Last year was when they supported Polaris in Kentish Town on another bumper of a lineup. The Islington O2 is a small venue for the band now that they’ve come off the back of supporting Sleep Token on their huge US arena tour, but they are at home on smaller-sized stage it turns out. This was the final date of the UK/mainland Europe tour and the bands clearly were having a great time hanging out for the duration of it. Ocean Grove and Bloom both set the tone for the night and explained how gracious they were for being a part of this sick Aussie tour.
Ocean Grove
My 4th time catching Ocean Grove live and they’re always a treat, energy is always off the hook and it’s clear they have fun playing to these crowds. Thornhill and OG swapped out and played a song of each other’s on the night, which was such a cool addition to the set, but did confuse me at the time! Gutted OG didn’t play “Ask For The Anthem,” but their set was total bonkers fun as expected. Bloom were great, they’ve gained a new fan in me and it’s always lovely to see bands appreciate these experiences of travelling the world with their mates making it clear how these crowds, whether big or small, make it all worthwhile.
Thornhill
Thornhill themself sounded phenomenal, Jacob sounds so solid live always and really shows his vocal range shine through with these newer songs. I’d loved to have heard “Nurture” (a personal favourite from TDP) but the setlist was heavy with songs from Bodies as you’d expect. “Silver Swarm” and “Tongues” stood out for me on the night and typical London Underground works meant I had to dash out a little early to catch my train and ended up missing “Nerv” and “Obsession” (my faves from Bodies).
The guys in Thornhill have built up some amazing momentum this year with Bodies and the recent remix version of the album – Bodies X which came out a couple of weeks ago, too. Can’t wait to catch them back in the UK next time, here’s to seeing them fill out some of the bigger venues on the next run. They’ve already been announced to play at Download 2026 – we will be waiting!
