Album Review: Acid Throne - Kingdom's Death
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
I don’t often start my reviews with these sort of words, but I’ve genuinely been blown away by what I’ve been listening to from Acid Throne, and they are going to be one of those new UK metal bands who will get people talking and the masses will be salivating when they listen to their debut album entitled 'Kingdom’s Death'.
This release marks a decisive milestone for the band, coming on the back of 'The Demo' in April 2022, and they have backed it up with 6 songs that are so full of delicious doom hooks, stoner riffs and brutal atmospheric black metal shenanigans, that they are going to crush your bones and grind you into submission, it is one hell of a ride!!
Emerging from the murky underground of Norwich, they won their Metal to the Masses heat and received rapturous approval at Bloodstock with their appearance on the Jägermeister stage, and judging from these new songs, it’s easy to see why they went down such a storm.
The adventure begins with 'Death is Not The End', with its slow burning build up, enticing the listener in, before the vocals hit you square in the chest, knocking you backwards, the doomy riffs are just pounding, and the influences are starting to become evident, and for a song that’s over eight mins long, it flies by as it’s captivating from the off. 'River (Bare My Bones)' continues the general theme of slow, crushing riffs, the epic journey through moods and soundscapes coming to the fore, with a heavy bass seeping through the speakers to add the moodiness of the music.
Then comes the fuzzy intro to 'King Slayer' which seems quite fast and up tempo for this trio, adding a bit more range to the music, but then the crushing doom and black metal influence shines through, it’s almost like you can feel the tectonic plates moving, albeit at a very slow pace. The intro to 'War Torn' feels like a relentless stamping on your throat, before they let you up and submit your whole body to the biggest pounding it’s ever received, their love of hardcore plainly audible throughout, and the song explodes into life midway through, with a relentless bettering of the drums, just sit back and enjoy the splendour that’s unfolding before you.
The penultimate song, 'Hallowed Ground' has a Twin Peaks sort of feel to the opening, before the power hits you full force, it’s almost like they are summoning the demons from the depths of beyond to unleash them on an unexpectant public, but the song keeps on going, turning your ear drums to dust with their crushing doom. And it all ends with almost eleven minutes of sheer unadulterated bliss, combining their black metal, stoner, doom and hardcore influences together, and all contained within 'Last Will and Testament', a song that meanders one way then another, but keeps you enthralled throughout.
If this record doesn’t get you excited and your head banging then you should give up and go listen to Coldplay, or something equally as limp as them, because this is seriously, seriously good stuff.
