ACID THRONE ~ KINGDOM'S DEATH .... review

Desert Psychlist has held our hands up before about our not being totally comfortable listening to vocals of a harsher nature, especially those that seem to take their inspiration from Linda Blair's portrayal of a possessed child in William Friedkin's adaption of William Peter Blatty's novel "The Excorcist". Guttural low growling tones, delivered in a similar manner to those once utilized by Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt, are a different matter however, those we can totally get on board with, It is this style of vocalization that decorates Acid Throne's debut full length album "Kingdom's Death" (Trepanation Recordings) a stunningly opus that is predominantly doomic in flavour but is not averse to dipping its toes into elements of black metal, groove and stoner metal along the way, a dark dank and atmospheric sound perfectly suited to the gravelled guttural vocal tones that decorate it. 

White noise introduces first track "Death Is Not The End" followed by an echo laden guitar arpeggio that then makes way for low slow bass and guitar riffage backed by a slow deliberate drum pattern all of which is accompanied by those low toned and surprisingly clear guttural vocals we spoke of earlier. As the song progresses so do the levels of intricacy and texture, the bass and drums still laying down the doomic dankness but the guitar parts becoming a little more complex and prog-orientated. "River (Bare My Bones)" follows and begins with a low thrumming bass and guitar riff chopped out over steady and stoic drumming, the song following along on this path for a full five minutes before a rolling drum pattern announces the arrival of the vocals which are delivered in a slightly gargled mix of Viking metal like harmonies and lead voice. "King Slayer" is next, a song that blends blackened doom with elements of stoner metal raucousness, NOLA-like groove and old school heavy metal gallop and is followed by "War Torn" a heavy hitting number that shows that as well as all of the above Acid Throne also have post-metal in their locker. Penultimate track "Hallowed Ground" begins life low key and creepy then borrows every doomic riff ever recorded and places them all together in one song, it is virtually impossible NOT to like this tune. Final track "Last Will and Testament" is that thing all good doom bands are expected have in their armoury and that is a song of epic proportions, eleven minutes of  mind-blowing dankness that is constantly fluctuating between loud and crunching heaviness and moody and atmospheric languidity. if this song is not "epic" enough for you then maybe you should reconsider your definition of the word.

Acid Throne's "Kingdom's Death" is probably one of the best albums of blackened heaviness released by a British outfit this year, an album that borders on the edges of extreme in places but cleverly never goes fully over that edge, the band retaining an element of groove in their music that will appeal to ALL metal fans rather than just a select few.

Check  it out... 

© 2023 Frazer Jones

# Album releases on 8th November 2023