THORNDALE

“We just write music and it comes out the way it does. The balance comes from all of us and how we write together.”

“A song should feel like it’s pushing and pulling and evolving.”

“We are all traditionally Death Metal guys, but Thorndale is where we scratch another musical itch.”

“It’s neither escaping nor confronting reality, it’s about living and breathing our realities.”

“Your surroundings determine things. Even if you’re inside a studio, the atmosphere around you still finds its way into the music.”

“We’re more about the riff and the vibe, the story that we tell with a song.”

“A memorable riff is not just heaviness. It’s the momentum behind it.”

“I want a riff that makes me want to hear more.”

“The best songs are the ones where people struggle to put their feelings into words.”

“When someone says a song really hit them, that is the greatest compliment we can receive.”

“Music can describe things that people sometimes cannot explain themselves.”

“A great riff should feel like a force moving forward.”

‘Dutch‘ stoner metal act Thorndale have built their sound on the foundation of heavy riffs, hypnotic grooves, and a deep connection to classic metal traditions – while still creating something that feels alive in the present.
With members coming from different musical backgrounds, the band has developed a style where doom, stoner rock, and traditional heavy metal meet in a powerful and atmospheric way.
Following releases such as ‘Spiritual Chains‘ and ‘Lightning Spawn‘, Thorndale continue to explore themes of inner struggles, uncertainty, personal reality, and the search for meaning through heavy music.
In this interview with Fok ’bs’, bassist Zigor Muñoz and guitarist Peter Shannon talk about the evolution of Thorndale, the art of building riffs, the importance of atmosphere, international collaborations, and why a truly memorable song needs more than just heaviness.
Thorndale’s sound feels deeply connected to classic heavy metal traditions, but it never sounds like simple nostalgia.
How do you balance honouring the past while making sure your music belongs to the present?
Zigor: “I don’t think it’s a planned or intended thing. We just write music and it comes out the way it does. It is true that perhaps the first album set the pace but to be honest ‘Spiritual Chains’ sounded fairly different from ‘Lightning Spawn’ and I can tell you our third is sounding different too… same Thorndale sound and feeling but different. I think the balance you talk about comes from all of us, how we write together.”
Peter: “I know I’m inspired by classic and modern bands, so I’m definitely influenced by both ends of that spectrum.” 
Your songs often carry a feeling of weight and tension, almost as if the riffs are physically pushing forward.
Do you usually start writing from a particular emotion, a guitar idea, or a specific atmosphere?
Peter: “I never focus on an emotion. It always starts with a riff that grabs my attention. I will improvise until I get something that I think is really cool, the kind of riff that would make me want to hear more. Then I develop it from there. Zigor and I have had conversations about storytelling with music and making sure it feels like a journey before there is a lyrical subject for the song. I always want a song to feel like it’s pushing and pulling and evolving.”
Coming from different musical backgrounds and previous bands, Thorndale brings together musicians with a lot of experience.
What was the biggest creative surprise when you first started building this band together?
Zigor: “I like to say Thorndale is the ‘middle’ space where we all stand. Our common love for certain music comes through and through in our music. I mean all of us are traditionally Death Metal guys but this is where we sort of scratch that other itch… I was (and still am) surprised to hear what we first put together after Peter wrote our very first song and everything that’s rolled out from under that and evolved from that!”
Peter: “Honestly, the biggest surprise for me was hearing Gus growl in some of his other projects! He’s such a talented, harsh vocalist, but my introduction to him was through the first Thorndale demos which were mostly clean vocals. So I learned more about the other guys’ death metal roots AFTER we started working together.”
The themes in your music often explore inner struggles, uncertainty, and darker aspects of human existence.
Do you see heavy music as a way of confronting those subjects rather than escaping from them?
Zigor: “I think Gus said it very well the other way in another interview. It’s neither escaping nor confronting them. It’s all about living and breathing our realities, our lives.”
The Netherlands has a strong history of alternative and extreme music, but every region has its own character.
How much does the Dutch underground scene influence Thorndale’s identity?
Zigor: “Not sure to be honest. We’re very involved in the scene here and yes many things inspire us to create more but also non local bands do so I am not sure.” 
Your releases combine stoner rock grooves, doom influences, and traditional metal elements.
Are these genres natural ingredients that come together during songwriting, or do you consciously decide which direction a song should take?
Peter: “I do think these genres naturally come together. I look at each album as a set that needs to have a proper flow to it. After a handful of songs are written I start to ask myself what I think is missing from the set, and I use that as direction for what I write. So if I write 4 doom style songs, I may want to write 1 or 2 up-tempo songs to help balance the album.”
The guest solo by Jeff Henson from Duel adds an interesting connection to the international heavy rock scene.
How did that collaboration happen, and what made Jeff the right musician for ‘Exiles and Masters’?
Zigor: “The short version is: Gus was in Jeff’s studio in Texas tracking vocals and there was this part where he’d written some vocal parts that weren’t quite working out so Jeff suggested a solo in there and offered to track it himself right then and there. It worked really well so it was all impromptu and out of the blue!!!”
Your production approach involved studios on both sides of the Atlantic.
Did working between different locations change the way you thought about the sound and atmosphere of the recordings?
Zigor: “For sure, I think your surroundings determine a few things. Most of the year here we have cold or blustery weather and I am sure that comes through, even if you’re indoors in a studio. I think the great equaliser so to speak is the work Rickard Bengtsson did at Sweetspot Studios. He brought all of those realities, sounds and atmospheres under the one sound that really worked. We’re looking forward to working with him for our upcoming album.”
Many stoner rock bands focus heavily on creating a hypnotic groove.
For Thorndale, what makes a riff truly memorable:
the heaviness, the melody, the repetition, or something harder to define?
Zigor: “Yeah, you’re correct. We’re more about the riff and the vibe, the story that we tell with a song rather than creating a stoner trance so to speak. I hadn’t thought about it that way. Great question.”
Peter: “Being stoned can feel like a trance, so that connection makes a lot of sense in my head. But what makes a riff memorable? The easy answer is ‘all of the above’. What I think makes Thorndale unique, and you already pointed this out in question 2, is the momentum in the riffs. I think ‘Ain’t The End Of My Rope’ is a perfect example, when we finished that song I said it sounds like a tank that’s rolling forward slowly and crushing everything in its path. I often try to use bends, offset beats, and occasionally missing the ‘1’ to enhance that feeling of momentum.”
‘Lightning Spawn’ and ‘Spiritual Chains’ arrived during a period when many people were still processing the effects of recent years.
Did the atmosphere of that time influence the emotions or ideas behind your music?
Zigor: “100%. You’ve got songs like ‘Born as a Stranger’ and ‘Foreboding’ that certainly are completely about that, about the effects of what happened in 2020 to 2022. Even after that, since we were writing ‘Spiritual Chains’ during that time too, you’ve got ‘Exiles and Masters’ which is also very deeply about the repercussions of a lot of the dumbfuckery you saw during those years.”
Your songs feel carefully structured rather than just built around endless jams.
How important is songwriting discipline for a band working within a genre that often celebrates improvisation and extended passages?
Peter: “I love songs that feel like an extended jam, but as I mentioned earlier, we feel strongly about there being a story. Sometimes there’s a natural story in a jam session. However, we spend a lot of time talking about sections, whether they should be longer or shorter, where there should be pauses, new sections, returning to old ones, tempo changes, etc.”
The reactions from outlets like Doomed & Stoned, Stoner HiVe, and Doomed4Metal show that your music connects with different corners of the heavy scene.
What kind of listener reaction means the most to you?
Peter: “When someone says a song really hit them. They felt the song deep within them and they have a hard time putting words to the feeling. That struggle for words tells me that there was an impact. It’s also amazing when they say they had to show someone else. The fact that they were so moved that they felt compelled to share is such an honour.”
Zigor: “A lot of those comments are hard to digest, in a good way. People are loving what we do and that’s the best compliment ever. We had a message sent to us about somebody struggling with things and how Thorndale helped them focus and sort of get down doing what they had to do. This was amazing.”
If Thorndale’s music was a physical place rather than a collection of songs, what kind of landscape would listeners find themselves standing in?
Peter: “The Canadian shield. Vast acres of forest, trails to explore, deep rooted old growth, the trials and tribulations of nature, and a sense of wonder.”
Zigor: “The waves crashing against the rocks on the Basque Coast along Pasealeku Berria in Donosti (Basque Country).”
Thorndale’s music shows that heavy music does not need to choose between tradition and progression.
By combining the weight of doom, the hypnotic pull of stoner rock, and the direct power of metal, the band creates songs that feel both familiar and unpredictable.
With every riff built around movement, atmosphere, and emotional impact, Thorndale continue to prove that the strongest foundations are not always about looking backwards.
Sometimes they are about using the past as fuel for something still evolving.
by Fok ‘bs‘