Acid Throne: Riffs Are Always First!

2023 was a huge year for metal releases. Some truly epic albums were produced and there were many contenders for top spot on AOTY lists. One band, who came crashing out of the UK underground scene were ACID THRONE. Releasing their debut Kingdom’s Death in November of last year, they made a late impact on many wider audiences and converted a swathe of audiences into their self-styled low velocity doom cult. With a colossal wall of sound supporting massive vocal deliveries, their rise has been massive and their course seems unstoppable. For those that have had the opportunity to see them live, most recently, a run of supporting shows to the CANCER BATS alter ego, BAT SABBATH it’s clear that the dynamic of the three-piece is really something special. We sit down with Matt Stembrowicz, one third of the ACID THRONE powerhouse to talk all things riffs and fuzz and see what the aspirations are for the Throne.

With an air of good-humoured humility, Matt is enthusiastic about the shows they’ve been on with BAT SABBATH. “It was immense man. Playing sold out shows to those crowds we can’t take too much credit…we were stoked to be on that tour and the guys were super nice and it was a fun time.” Going on to explain that while the crowds were huge fans of CANCER BATS and the BAT SABBATH performance is a slight departure from the ACID THRONE style. “Even though we’re fairly different from what BAT SABBATH do. Most people into BAT SABBATH are probably going to be doom metal fans anyway.” He’s not wrong, the enthusiasm for SABBATH was a key aspect to the rapturous reception that ACID THRONE received for their riffs, despite their undeniably heavier tone.

ACID THRONE have arrived with a leviathan sized tone and presence, made all the more impressive given that they’re a three-piece made up of drummer Chris Farrar and twin guitar with vocals shared between Matt and Chris Kemp. Given the low-end power that they deliver, it is a surprise that there is no bass guitar within their lineup. Matt navigates this in a truly doom metal fashion. “We started as a hardcore, punk band and then COVID happened and the bassist left. We had just picked up Chris as a vocalist…he was suggesting we started playing some doom-y stuff. I hadn’t ever played bass before, but I had one and I wanted to play. Just before we started to record Kingdom’s Death the other guitarist left. We tried a traditional three piece, but we lost something without the twin guitars and I could never quite capture it with the bass. So, we took inspiration from other bands and split, dual signal between bass and guitar amps.” There is a bass on the album which Matt records, but when playing live uses a Les Paul. The resulting wall of noise is colossal, certainly the correct approach to present the crushing riffs the band write. At first, having twin amps may seem a little excessive, however, when those amps are a SUNN O))) backed up with an Orange it doesn’t get much more heavy weight doom!

It’s not all fun and games though. Taking to the road with a doom band involves heavy metal load ins. As Matt explains, “there’s a big thing to be using tube amps on stage…if it isn’t breaking your arm to get in the venue, you’re not trying! We’ve had some brutal load ins. Three sets of stairs and walking through an open bar with these heavy amps. But that’s doom man!”

As is fairly typical of bands under the thrall of the doom metal genre, ACID THRONE put the riffs front and centre of their creative writing keeping them prominent throughout the tracks. “Riffs are always first when writing. There are definite things we look for. We always like to have a hook and have an earworm in the riff to make it catchy…we try to avoid becoming too dirge-y and have something heavy as fuck but still catchy. The next thing, it’s going to sound cheesy, but make it sound evil and dark hahaha. Then the ultimate test, is when we bring riffs to a practice, does it make us grin, a big stupid grin when we play it. Then we’re on to a winner!”

As a band though, the creative process is ultimately a democratic affair, with each member offering input from riffs to lyrics. They take the approach to not writing on their own and presenting a unified creation. Lyrically, themes of death and war are prevalent. “Any kind of Word War One stuff is just brutal and grim inspiration.” While this is again fairly typical of the genre, they are not afraid to branch out into more introspective struggles such as Last Will And Testament. King Slayer even broaches the political landscape. “The key thing in that respect is that the world is a fucked up place and there’s never any shortage of heinous stuff to write about. We try to be a bit clever and mask what we’re singing about, but people will always get something different from it…which is great!”

What is exceptional, from a live perspective is how easy it is for a crowd to get swept up in the presence of ACID THRONE. They’ve developed very crowd friendly doom, particularly with singing participation. This is an intentional part of their sound that Matt is all too happy to cultivate. “King Slayer has those crew shouts. The demo (2022’s The Demo) release had Confess Your Sins which had that aspect, kind of a hardcore influence. But it’s become a signature in a way I guess [laughs]. Something you can pump your fist to!”

“We never had any dreams of doing what we’ve already done when we started,” Matt explains when asked about the future for ACID THRONE. Following a Metal 2 The Masses win in 2022 and subsequent Bloodstock set was, it seems, a pleasant surprise. “We only entered Metal 2 The Masses because it was the only show we could get without having a demo…to have won was nuts!” The rise for ACID THRONE has been a steady and exciting upward curve, more festival bookings with the likes of Stoomfest and Desertfest London. “We want to keep playing shows and we are thinking to get writing again, but it’s a long process. For us it’s playing as far and as wide as we can and we love playing festivals and meeting other bands.” Their reach has certainly expanded with merch sales throughout Europe as well as the US and Canada so there’s scope for playing to a growing fanbase and spread.

As a parting thought on what ACID THRONE are, Matt offers, “we try to be as genre bending as possible…there is so much in our music which will appeal to so many people. For me personally, I’ve come from a black and death metal angle to doom so I like to bring that in. We want to encourage people to get involved.”

Kingdom’s Death is out now via Trepanation Recordings.

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