“Tell me, do you feel alive, or are you hurting inside?”
A decade has passed since I first learned of Acres. The release of The Tallest Of Mountains via DreamBound in 2013 emotionally enthralled me with instrumentation akin to that of Explosions In The Sky and Pianos Become The Teeth, contrasted by cutting post-hardcore screams. The pain of the passing years has seen Acres refine their sound, reawakening with their 2017 EP In Sickness & Health, and the subsequent debut LP Lonely World in 2019.
Three years on from the release of Lonely World and one globally-devastating chapter later, 2022 marked Acres’ fated return with the release of “Burning Throne” in July, taken from the eponymously-titled sophomore record. This was a surprise single following months of studio teasers by the band starting in late 2021. “Burning Throne” is an outrageously-catchy offering showcasing a sound that the band have culminated over the last decade — an explosive edginess replete with radio heaven singalongs, engulfed by grandiose, glitzy ambience.
With that said, is “Burning Throne” representative of the album in full, and is Burning Throne a worthy successor to Lonely World?
Opening track “Nothing.” featuring Silent Planet’s Garrett Russell would certainly suggest so. Kickstarting the ten-track, thirty-four minute outing with one hell of a bang, “Nothing.” is quite possibly the heaviest Acres have ever been, with the heftiest riffs 2023 has to offer coming right out of the gate supplemented by impeccably tight drumwork by Konnor Bracher-Walsh. Frontman Ben Lumber’s soaring cleans follow this, lifting the veil on Burning Throne: “Drowning in these chemicals / I’ve lost my mind but I believe that you’re the one that’s done this to me”.
Surprising absolutely nobody, Garrett Russell’s feature is equally beautiful and brutal: “Paralysed by the whites of your eyes / Suffocate and watch me burn so you can come alive.” Acres’ outpouring of aggression on “Nothing.” lends the listener a sense that Burning Throne has some tremendously emotional gravitas within its track-listing.
“Hold On” follows the aforementioned title track “Burning Throne”, and boy oh boy, this song is golden. With one of the downright best choruses of recent times, “Hold On” is unfalteringly gorgeous and explores the agony of watching a loved one destroy everything surrounding them, and being incapable of intervening. Awash with sorrowful, ethereal ambience, Lumber’s vocals magnify the pain of “Hold On”’s context: “Tell me, do you feel alive, or are you hurting inside? / Cause I’ve been losing sleep at night / Come wrap your arms around me and hold on to me.”
Fourth song “The Death Of Me” is a delicate, heartrending anthem held aloft in cloudy, overcast skies by pillars of glowing, empyrean reverbs. “The Death Of Me” deals with love lost and the all-too-relatable feelings of inadequacy for another’s love: “They say I was never enough for you / Did you feel the pain you put me through? And it kills me, and it kills me”. “The Death Of Me” comes across with the upmost sincerity, and is a deeply introspective track that I can’t get enough of — this is definitely one for fans of “Lullaby” and “Skin Over Mine” from Lonely World.
Next up is “My Everything” and “Feel Anything”, a back-to-back duo of brand new tracks; five singles were taken from Burning Throne, not including these two beauties. Both songs allow the album to flow flawlessly, particularly with the opening riff for “My Everything” giving Burning Throne a sense of urgency with some undeniable The Plot In You vibes. “Feel Anything” sustains this momentum with an interplay of perfectly-levelled lead and rhythm guitars by Alex Freeman, who had the lofty task of writing Burning Throne in the seclusion of lockdown.
Eighth track “Into Flames” followed “Burning Throne” and “Hold On” in November 2022, and was the song with which Acres launched the announcement for Burning Throne. Amalgamating the album’s highly emotive themes of frustration, suffering and defeat, Lumber describes “Into Flames” as being “about having everything you love getting taken away from you. During the pandemic everyone’s life was turned upside down and this song is about the fear of the unknown, wondering if things will ever be as easy as they were.”
“Into Flames” is certainly an uncertain, unsettling listen with discomforting, dissonant, almost dystopian-sounding lead guitars floating throughout the track. Quite like its lyrical content (“Forgive me / I’m letting us die”), the instrumentation on show here has a certain vulnerability to it. Nowhere is this more apparent than a completely unexpected guitar solo towards the end of “Into Flames”, with strings pushed to near breaking point in an almost-violent outburst of frenetic fury. Together with “Nothing.”, “Into Flames” represents the darkest Acres have ever been, both thematically and sonically.
Burning Throne draws to a close with “When You’re Gone” and the closing track, “Lost In Our Own World”. A liberating deluge of expression bordering on near-desperation, “When You’re Gone” delves into what I interpret to be attachment anxiety, or a deep longing for someone unreachable: “When you’re gone and I’m lost / I saw everything get torn apart / If I fall, will you catch me and pull me out again?”
“Lost In Our Own World” truly gives Burning Throne – and indeed Acres’ entire discography – a sense of coming full circle and finally facing oneself. Through dizzying ambient guitars and gentle post-rock drums, “Lost In Our Own World” is beautifully composed, whilst unbelievably heavy in a purely emotional way. Lumber conveys a compelling, poignant message of loss and heartache here, closing out Burning Throne on a sorrowful note that just stays with you, deeply.
Ultimately, Burning Throne is well-worth the nearly four year wait following Lonely World, and it builds upon everything its predecessor made so alluring and then some. Whilst I feel that Burning Throne would have benefitted from just a couple more tracks to give the album a bit of extra heft, this album is unwaveringly powerful with some of the greatest choruses, lyrics and instrumentation I’ve had the joy and privilege of experiencing so far this year. Standouts such as “Nothing.”, “Hold On” and “Into Flames” contribute to an ultimately unskippable journey that compels endless listens and a lot, and I mean a lot of emotion.
9/10
Burning Throne by Acres will be released on March 3rd via A Wolf At Your Door Records. You can preorder the album here. For more on Acres and all the latest music reviews, stick with us at Boolin Tunes.