ALBUM REVIEW: Kingdom’s Death – Acid Throne
When people think of Norwich they think of rolling countryside, peace and quiet, but that is an image that the purveyors of doom/sludge ACID THRONE have been trying to destroy since their inception a little over two years ago. Despite the fact that the band only have a demo to their name so far, the boys have been making quite the stir in the underground scene with plenty of avid followers and critics alike paying close attention to them and waiting with bated breath for their highly-anticipated debut. Now at the back end of the year, the band have finally blessed us with their first full-length effort Kingdom’s Death – an album that is sure to be the soundtrack of the winter.
Death Is Not The End is the perfect opener. The ominous guitar of Chris Kemp creates an immediate sense of tension before the hammer is brought down with a colossal strike of heavily distorted guitars and booming drums. Matt Stembrowicz’s vocals carve through the dirge with all of the power and rawness you would want from a band of this ilk, and the fuzzy riffs in the verse bounce off of his rumbling bass guitar of and give the track that light melodic relief (if you can call it that, this is still pretty bleak stuff), with the full drum sound of Chris Farrar keeping everything steady. This is a tremendous introduction to the album and perfectly sets out the mission statement for the rest of the record.
The guitar tone throughout this album is thicker than tar and this is no more apparent than on River (Bare My Bones). The intro section of this song itself lasts for more than two minutes, with simple chords letting the distortion swell and engulf you. When the vocals come in – this time with Kemp taking the lead – the deep growls and powerful backing vocals only add to the heavyweight feel of things and really give off a feeling of just how massive this trio can sound. King Slayer carries on in very much the same vein, with some of the colossal riffing sections not sounding too distant from some of the early MASTODON releases, which can never be a bad thing. The echo effect that soaks Stembrowicz’s vocals once again adds to the titanic scale of the sound that the band are aiming for, making it sound like he is screaming into the depths of a massive cave. Very doom metal indeed.
War-Torn is one of the more direct songs on the album. The riffs and the beat together make it sound as if the three lads are marching towards battle, with the reverb-heavy clean guitar section in the middle providing the perfect contrast and adding a haunting aura to proceedings. The song then explodes into a much more blackened monster, with blast beats and tremolo guitars, in a switch-up that many who are unfamiliar with the band would not have been expecting. It has to be said that this comes at the perfect time before anything feels a little too repetitive or bland. Instead, there is a jolting transition that will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the set when the band take the album on the road.
The band were never going to end this album with a whimper. Instead, they lay down the mammoth Last Will And Testament – a song that boasts virtually 11 minutes in runtime and proves rather emphatically that they have plenty more ideas in their armoury. The number of riffs on display throughout this song is up there with the likes of bona fide doom legends MONOLORD and shows just what impressive songwriters ACID THRONE are even at this stage of their career. The crescendo of the song sounds almost titanic in scale with the lead guitar soaring over the top of the rest of the instrumental, adding a melancholic sense of melody to the sound.
For a debut album this is a real statement. ACID THRONE have come out of the gates and laid the gauntlet down for everyone else in the genre. From the creative ideas to the flawless execution, the band have announced themselves as real players here, and laying down something this complete on their debut album means that the sky is really the limit for these guys.
Rating: 9/10
Kingdom’s Death is out now via Trepanation Recordings.
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