Early in their career, Melbourne outfit Thornhill were regarded as a metalcore act, albeit one with a slightly darker, theatrical bent. In truth, that was selling the band short. Certainly tracks such as “Nurture” and “The Haze” deliver the requisite downtuned riffage and hurricane-strength drumming, but vocalist Jacob Charlton has long offered more than a guttural roar, instead putting to good use a voice with the range of Muse’s Matt Bellamy (that Thornhill covered Muse’s “Supermassive Black Hole” for triple j’s Like A Version is telling). Second album Heroine only widened the gap from the metalcore field, veering into a more alternative and hard-rock direction, all the while maintaining their fondness for bone-crushingly heavy riffing—see the noir, atmospheric “Blue Velvet”; the Arctic-Monkeys-meets-metal of “Raw”; and the stop-on-a-dime mood shifts and dynamics of “Casanova.” Clearly Thornhill is a band that thinks outside the box. Each song on Heroine was written as though soundtracking a particular movie or mood. “Raw” essays an actress navigating the world of stalkers and lovelorn fans, while “Casanova” sees Charlton delivering his lyrics with the swagger and theatricality of a larger-than-life character, modeled on Justin Timberlake and Elvis. Not that the band is immune to more real-life scenarios—“Lily & the Moon” is about Charlton’s dog and, more broadly, the concept of loss and loving people while they’re alive; the Royal Blood-esque stomp of “Viper Room” is about lust and pursuing someone romantically, even after having been rebuffed.