“I give my flesh to the host that owns me.”
UK post-hardcore outfit Acres return with The Host, the follow-up to their 2023 album, Burning Throne. Their 2019 album, Lonely World, established the band’s place in the realm of atmospheric post-hardcore and now, teaming up with Landon Tewers (The Plot In You), with whom they worked on last year’s What It’s Like To Feel Worthless, the band aim to bring an ambitious new dimension to their sound.
From the first track “Bloodlust”, there’s already a noticeable difference in the band’s sound. Trading their usual post-hardcore approach for an EDM-infused heavy sound, “Bloodlust” is undoubtedly one of the band’s weirdest songs – in a good way. The hauntingly ethereal ambience of the instrumental hook features trance-like choir ambience and jittery electronic noises layered over djenty chugs. The drums, provided by Brody Taylor-Smith (Invent Animate), follow this with a set of fills and kicks that give the drop a lot more depth. Meanwhile, Ben Lumber delivers a powerful chorus in his signature soaring style, blending Acres’ strong suits with this fresh experimental sound. The pummeling breakdown rounds out the song with a fittingly cathartic hit; and the thematic discussion of the relationship with addiction, giving in despite knowing its detriments, is similarly hard-hitting.
“Built to Bleed” follows suit, while swinging in a heavier direction. A similarly spectral ambience follows the track, paired with a pleasant surprise of prog-influenced riffs. Guitarist Alex Freeman lays down a menacing set of low-string riffs, particularly in the second verse. One of the heaviest cuts by the band, the song features no clean vocals and keeps its charged momentum going the entire way. The volatility of The Plot In You’s sound is a clear influence on these two tracks by way of Tewers’ involvement
Building on the foundation set by the previous EP, The Host features an overall heavier version of Acres, with a large emphasis on driving emotion with heavy ambience. “Not So Different” is a natural continuation of this sound with its more metalcore-oriented style, with heavy chugged riffs lending a nice weight. It has a similar skeleton to “A Different Shade Of Misery”, which remains one of my favourite Acres songs. “Staring At The Sun” takes a less intense approach, leaning into Lumber’s propensity for a captivating hook. The more cleans-focused direction gives the album a welcome balance, with some familiar territory bridging the gap to the newer, more innovative material. These tracks are solid performances in their own rights, even if they don’t break the status quo.
Again on the familiar front, Acres continue to demonstrate their knack for catchy and heavy with “Your Goodbye”. There’s an undeniable Plot influence in the vibrant, atmospheric opening which feels very familiar to Tewers’ usual style. Its soaring chorus is one of the strongest on the album and serves as a strong anchor for the track. “Steal the Light” takes a subtler approach to this formula, leaning into electronic pop sensibilities on the verses. These two tracks give a view of Acres’ established strengths with a new lens, which I find refreshing. The album ends with “Around Again”, fully leaning into the electronic production elements for most of the duration; intricate synth layers build into a well-constructed atmospheric section, complemented by massive, djenty chugs.
The Host sees an intentional effort from Acres to improve upon their foundations, introducing new songwriting elements to their usual formula and overall crafting one of their strongest releases to date. With a foot in the door for a much more experimental version of their sound, and a general improvement at that, it begs the question of how much they can continue to push the envelope. At seven songs, The Host is a fairly short album and while it does a lot in its runtime, it would have benefitted from being padded out as a full album with more room to expand past their conventions. As it stands, this iteration could very well serve as a new personal benchmark, with a needed punchiness injected into their sound that will serve them well.
7.5/10
The Host releases on the 2nd of May through Solid State Records. Pre-order and merch links for the album can be found here.