By Jack Walsh
Friday night was nothing short of an adrenaline-fuelled ride from start to finish. The energy and atmosphere from the opening supports, to the Swedish hardcore punk and metalcore titans, Thrown never wavered. From the first note hitting until the final guitar echo faded, the entire night felt like everything had been cranked to 11 with no signs of slowing down.
Welcome to my review of Thrown’s conquest of Manchester Academy 2 during their 2025 EXCESSIVE GUILT tour.
Kicking off the night, British nu-metalcore band, Graphic Nature, delivered a brutal opening 30 minutes. Their set was packed with hard hitters that kept the crowd on their feet and the pits alive – the perfect start to what would become a bone-crushing evening.
Unity TX followed, bringing their A-game just like their predecessors. The hardcore/hip-hop fusion band dominated the stage with their unique sound and acrobatic moves, their hypnotic stage presence captivating every eye in the venue, mine included. They were nothing short of a joy to witness.
Was the crowd growing tired at this point? If the spontaneous Sweet Caroline sing-along through the speakers wasn’t enough to reinvigorate the room, final support, Crystal Lake, certainly had something to say about it. The Japanese metalcore juggernauts knew their assignment: deliver their sound in the most bloodthirsty manner possible. Wailing guitars and flying bodies defined the next half-hour as pits grew angrier, and the crowd unleashed their full force. We hadn’t even reached the main event, yet the room was already transforming into a slaughterhouse. Lead singer, John Robert Centorrino, elevated the chaos further by climbing into the centre of the pit, held above by dedicated fans as he threw up his arms with every hand in the venue raised in perfect unison.
Then it was time for Thrown.
The room dimmed, and silence fell. Something was about to happen. The band walked on one by one to thunderous cheers, then, like lighting a fuse, it all went off. Launching straight into Backfire, the room erupted. Lights flashed as lead singer, Marcus Lundqvist’s screams, bounced off the walls of Academy 2, while crowd surfers began their relentless charge. This was the moment everyone had been waiting for.
‘Fucking Jump!’ bellowed Lundqvist as the onslaught continued with tracks from their most recent album, EXCESSIVE GUILT, and their 2022 EP, EXTENDEDPAIN, peppered the room. Their ruthless energy and determination were evident throughout. The room was bouncing more intensely than I’d ever witnessed in this venue—and that’s saying something. The crowd, already battered and bruised, couldn’t stop now, and as Thrown delved into Guilt, the circle pit, now consuming nearly half the floor, reached all-out war.
‘How are we feeling?’ Lundqvist questioned, and a continuous scream answered from everyone who still had breath left in their lungs. The perfect response to that reply? The opening notes of their biggest hit, On The Verge. This was one of my favourite songs of 2024, and I’ll be completely honest, every fibre of my body wanted to join that pit, but I could see that going wrong. Instead, I stood on the sidelines with a giant grin plastered across my face. Maybe next time, eh?
The crowd certainly did enough pit diving and crowd surfing, and why shouldn’t they? They were there to have the time of their lives, and Thrown delivered this without question.
As guitars roared and cymbals crashed during their final song, Grayout, everyone was still giving their all, especially Thrown. This was my first time seeing them live, and I pray it won’t be the last. I savoured every single second of Friday night, and so did everyone else in attendance.
A beautiful, chaotic night of adrenaline-filled mayhem.
Unless otherwise stated, Photography & Text Copyright 2025 © Jack Walsh/ADRENALINE Magazine.
Oliver Galbraith 
Tyler Whiting 
Darcy Mitchell