Acres “Burning Throne” Album Review
Acres has released their newest record Burning Throne, which builds upon their debut record Lonely World. Between the riffs, catchy hooks, and hard hitting breakdowns, they keep to their roots while evolving just enough to keep it fresh. On the new record, guitarist Alex Freeman says, “I am extremely proud of this record but making it wasn’t easy. I had to teach myself how to write on my own again, and knowing that it was all on me was pretty unnerving. But I feel like the pressure of the record and the frustration of being secluded due to the pandemic allowed me to create a vibe that I’ve wanted ACRES to explore for a long time, and I’m really stoked with the outcome.”
Acres is actually new to me personally; I’ve never listened to them before this, but I must say I wish that wasn’t the case. Immediately after the first track “Nothing.” starts, I knew immediately I was going on a ride. Starting off hard the song trucks along nicely and really kick starts the album with a catchy chorus and punchy breakdown. Featuring Garrett Russel of Silent Planet really helps beef up the vocal presence as well. The title track “Burning Throne” immediately follows and keeps up the energy, both of these tracks are definitely in the metalcore/ post-hardcore realm between the cleaner chorus’s and heavier verses.
With a crashing finish we do slow down a little with “Hold On”, much more of a ballad than a rock track. I really enjoy the sound and the emotion that pours from this track. The hi-hats and bass track really helps mood up this track before ripping into the chorus where a lot of the feeling this track has comes from. “The Death Of Me” slows up the album even more and I think the pacing here is really good. This is a track I’m adding to my “sadboi” playlist, and that is 100% a compliment, this is a great track for when you’re feeling yourself and just need to sit and soak. The song does pick up about halfway through and emphasizes the track's emotion and cranks it up to an 11. They even fit in screams here and it really does work, sometimes screams can pull you out of these kinds of tracks but they fit it in perfectly.
Now comes the lightest and slowest song of the record, “Visual Hallucinations” which might even count as an interlude as it is the shortest track on the record. Acres really knows how to pace an album, slowly winding down their tracks one by one to keep it consistent, and then blasting right back with “My Everything”. The pacing of an album I think can be just as important as what tracks you chose for an album, and they really killed it here. “My everything” punches you right in the gut after tapering off from “Visual Hallucinations”, but it doesn't feel wrong or off at all. The vocal quality and style at the beginning of the tracks feels like it came right from “Visual Hallucinations” so it gels really well and as though it was meant to lead into one another. My Everything is much more of a straight up rock song, which is a nice return after slowing down, there is some half-time ‘breakdowny’ stuff at the end but it still fits very well.
“Feel Anything” brings us right back up to pace with the start of the album, the heaviness returns with the screams while also keeping the chorus catchy and clean. I love how they slow the song down to just the bare roots leading right into the breakdown, it's structure and sound is very reminiscent of The Plot in You. “Into Flames” keeps up the pace and energy but it DOES sound very familiar. There is definitely some repetition in sound at this point, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but too much of a good thing makes everything feel the same. They do lean a bit more into screaming verses here, and I would have liked to see them lean even more into it. It feels as though like use screams to spice up the sound but don’t trust it enough to make it the only vocals for long, and I would like to hear them use it more. Of course that’s the metalhead in me thinking, but I do think it stands on its own every well and could be utilized even more.
Closing out the album are the tracks “When you’re Gone” and “Lost in Our World”. “When You’re Gone” is very late 2000’s “soft”-metalcore, it really reminds me of Crown the Empire. The chorus especially sounds like the Crown The Empire song “Cross our Bones”, a song I love, so therefore this is a track I love as well. And the half-time portion before the bridge gets the drummer in me going. Ending the record is “Lost in Our World”, another slower track which I think closes out the record nicely. It picks up around the halfway mark and continues until fading away to close out the track.
If you’re a rock fan of any kind this is definitely a record to check out, especially if you're a mid 2010’s metalcore fan like I am. Their singles also have some cool music videos over on YouTube worth checking out, and we’ll have a link to them below. And be sure to check out some of their older releases as well if you liked what you heard here, I know I will be!