Interviews: Acerbic

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Thrash Metal/Death Metal band Acerbic from the USA. Check out the interview and follow this band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Abhorrent Atrocities Against All Humankind marks your first official EP. What pushed you from the demo stage into committing to a full release?

The demo was released in June of 2023, and by November of 2023, the band started forming with the addition of our drummer, Chris Hannan. Once we found a bassist and our vocalist, we had a couple more songs established, and it was around this time that we started talking about recording what we had.

2. ACERBIC started as Chris Thompson’s solo project back in 2013. What finally turned it into a functioning full band, and how did that transition reshape the material?

It took a painfully long time to form a solo project into a band, largely because it is extremely difficult to find musicians who are equally talented and ambitious. Once the band was formed, we wrote new material, recorded some demos and finally moved it into the studio. We are really proud of the EP we recorded. Charlie did a smashing job of capturing the darkness and giving the album some atmosphere.

3. The EP fuses death metal ferocity with melodic phrasing and even some thrash swing. Did that hybrid come naturally, or was it something you chased intentionally?

It's just what comes naturally to me. The bands I listen to and enjoy are dark and heavy, and melodic. I think it's a sort of "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" thing going on. I write what I like to hear, maybe?

4. Let’s talk influences. What specific bands shaped the riffs, vocals, and rhythm section of this release? Feel free to separate guitarist, vocalist, drummer, and songwriting influences if they differ.

Gabriel was influenced by DEATH, CANNIBAL CORPSE, and CRADLE OF FILTH

Chris H was influenced by DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL, and OLD MAN'S CHILD

Xander was influenced by OZZY, ALESANA, and KING CRIMSON

Chris T was influenced by AT THE GATES, AMON AMARTH, and DISMEMBER.

5. Olympia’s scene is small but always intense. How much did the local environment shape ACERBIC, and how do you see yourselves fitting into—or clashing with—that scene?

Yeah, the Olympia scene is very small but intense. It's remarkable how many talented, internationally known, and touring bands call this place home. But yet we all know each other, the network is small and thriving. The venues here are awesome and accommodating.

6. The 2023 demo featured Dirk Verbeuren and Kragen Lum. How did those collaborations come about, and what impact did they have on the band’s trajectory?

ACERBIC was still a solo project and was ready to record the demo, but lacked viable musicians. CT recorded the bass, guitar tracks, and vocals with Tad Doyle at his WITCH APE studio in Seattle. In order to get the ideas out there as quickly as possible, he emailed Dirk, who responded that he was open to independent work (as he was not touring at this time). CT sent him the demo scratch tracks, and his response was something like: "Man, this is right up my alley! Straight-forward thrash metal that's heavy and inspired!" He was very easy to work with - we set up a video chat and worked out the details of the sound I was looking for. He recorded his tracks and sent me the files. Kragen Lum was equally easy to work with. He asked what kind of lead sound I was looking for in his solo on our song DESPONDENT, and I told him the sound, and he absolutely nailed it. No re-takes. Everything sounded great and was on time. When you work with the pros, you get pro results. Their contributions to the demo certainly put eyes on ACERBIC and really lit the fire under our asses to continue writing material and getting it out there!

7. You got international attention early via zines and comps from Romania and Peru. Did that surprise you? And how important is the global underground to this band’s DNA?

It was very surprising to receive unsolicited emails from magazines in these far-flung places that we've never been to. We were really honored that they would reach out to us to support our message! We all live and breathe in the underground metal scene.

8. Can you give a track-by-track breakdown of the EP for the zine? What themes are being dissected beneath all the carnage?

We wanted the album to have a flow, to tell a story, and to provide the listener with an experience. The song WET WORK starts the album off with a thrashy number that sets the pace for the album. In NOCTURNAL CULLING, the listener is exposed to a death metal groove with a catchy descending guitar riff. LUNAR LUST, a fan favorite live, is a flurry of Chris's death metal blast beats progressing into a band jam that ends in a fade-out. We return with SHALLOW GRAVE, the current single offering ACERBIC in raw form - blasting, old school death metal riffs interlaced with exotic flair, which NO CLEAN SINGING described as "serpentine in its movement... fiendishly infectious as well as blood-rushing." The song #216 is a real masterclass in the sound of ACERBIC - the fastest song on the record and one that has the perfect balance of aggression, melody, and a rollercoaster of emotion. The EP ends with KILLING FIELD, a Swedish death-inspired piece for all the knuckle-draggers out there. The album flows smoothly - the 27 minutes and 16 seconds of brutality pass over you like an acid flashback with replay value.

9. Recording at Elektriccity in Portland and mixing with Charlie Koryn was a strong combo. What made those the right choices, and what did they bring out of the material?

We met Charlie through a mutual friend of ours, and ACERBIC played with one of Charlie's bands. It was at this show that we met with Charlie and asked how his schedule was looking for recording. We scheduled some time with him a couple of months in advance because he's a busy dude. In fact, we recorded our drums with him and did a light mix on our single SHALLOW GRAVE, and then he went on tour with one of his bands. Then, right before we mixed, he had another 2-week tour in SE Asia, and when he came back, he told us stories of all this great food he had. Charlie is well-known for being a very competent drummer in the extreme metal scene, and he was able to capture our sound accurately. Every nuance on that album has been embellished by his touch. We used all our original equipment; no studio equipment was used. This was so we could best capture our raw sound; we wanted to record with the equipment we play live with. We also didn't spend any time splitting tracks, time-aligning, or moving things to the grid, as is the custom with modern metal production. We instead relied on ear and feel, capturing a live sound that's visceral and haunting.

10. The vocals shift between guttural lows and banshee highs. Were those extremes shaped by specific influences, or did the songs demand that much range?

The songs do require a bit of range in the vocals. Death metal vocals that are monotone fatigue the ear. We also wanted a vocal that set us apart from the other bands that are playing with a similar sound. We're a little thrashier than we are death when it comes to the songs, so we needed a death metal vocalist who was capable of getting lows but had range and could scream, hold notes, and layer their vocals on the record. Gabe executes this professionally. He sounds like an LG Petrov meets Glen Benton.

11. Xander’s 6-string bass approach adds a lot of melodic layers. How much bass writing happens independently versus locked into guitar lines?

Xander writes his bass lines completely independent of the guitar. ACERBIC really needed a bassist who could embellish these songs, and Xander's bass lines have no shortage of melody and punishment. We play in D Standard, but Xander's 6-string allows him to go into the deeper registers to really add some weight to certain passages. There are some definite spots where he locks in with the rhythm guitar, and everything sounds sonically perfect. Since we only have one guitar player, when he goes to lead, Xander boosts his bass tone to really cover for the lack of rhythm live. He's extremely versatile, and he's the right dude for the job. X Marks the spot!

12. The EP artwork by Matt Stikker nails the atmosphere. What direction did you give him on the visual concept, and what does the art reveal about the record?

ABHORRENT ATROCITIES AGAINST ALL HUMANKIND is a title that describes a collection of songs that all detail horrific murders perpetrated by someone who is clearly out of touch with reality. Matt's incredibly detailed hand-painted artwork is a faithful visual representation of the dark atmosphere of our album. The apocalyptic landscape laid before you is strikingly beautiful until its details reveal the horrors it hides. This once promising scene, full of the beauty of life, is now scarred by the rapacious wounds of industry. Where trees once stood, yawning earthen depressions hide terrible secrets. Faithful husbandry of this resource, long forgotten, this field has become the repository for those killed by the perpetrator in ABHORRENT ATROCITIES AGAINST ALL HUMANKIND. We were looking for something that screams "We're from the Pacific Northwest," and 50 acres of clear-cut forest says that. The cool color scheme of teal and lavender is dark and foreboding - as the sun has set over the mountains in the background, the sun has also set for the victims of the killing field. And with Matt's brilliant design, the eyes move easily through the entirety of the composition. Have you noticed any easter eggs? They're there! And for this cover, you're only seeing ONE QUARTER of Matt's beautiful art - he took 3 months in the summer of 2024 to paint two 18x36" paintings on canvas. Those paintings now regally reside in our Red Dread Studio.

13. The lead single “Shallow Grave” comes with a video by J. Donovan Malley. What story or mood were you aiming to convey visually with that piece?

Well, the visual concept was all J Donovan Malley's idea. We knew we wanted to shoot a video in front of a shallow grave, and we wanted it to end with a shovel full of dirt covering the camera, "fading to black." The very psychotropic look of the video has a bit of a disorienting effect. It feels like the viewer is bearing witness through the POV of a victim who's been bashed over the head, and this is what they're seeing before they die and get buried in the shallow grave. Or maybe it's just a fevered dream, the memory of a traumatic event coming back to haunt the viewer?

14. A lot of newer bands chase polish over aggression. You kept the brutality intact without losing clarity. Was that a philosophy going in or a happy accident?

Yes, it seems that over the years, many bands have gone to the squeaky-clean and polished sound. They use samples and impulse responses because they're easier to tame in the mix. Engineers cut-and-paste every note, every strike to be on time, and then deceive the listener by claiming "we captured the best performance!" What a load of shit. They didn't play it that way, did they - start to finish, one take? Everybody's punching in and taking multiple takes because they can't play a 4-minute song in its entirety. Modern production has a feel of "simplicity over value." We reject that. We wanted to capture ACERBIC, and Charlie Koryn understood the assignment.

15. What lyrical themes run through the EP? Are these real-world inspired, metaphorical, or full-blown narrative horror?

Lyrically, we are inspired by human depravity. Real horror. True crime, serial murder, necrophilia, and all things macabre. WET WORK is a song that was inspired by murder and organized crime. NOCTURNAL CULLING is about our perpetrator stalking their victims. LUNAR LUST is a song about a romantic tryst that continues beyond death. SHALLOW GRAVE is really self-explanatory - it's about the use of shallow graves in the disposal of corpses. The song #216 is about murder. And the last song, KILLING FIELD, is about the field that our perpetrator is using as a repository for their victims.

16. If you could take this EP on the road with a dream tour package, which bands (active or dead) would you want to share a stage with?

Gabriel: DEATH, CANNIBAL CORPSE, THE HAUNTED/AT THE GATES, ACERBIC

Chris H: SLAYER, TESTAMENT, CANNIBAL CORPSE, ACERBIC, CASCADIAN DEMISE

Xander: TESTAMENT, CAR BOMB, ACERBIC

Chris T: CARCASS, AMON AMARTH, DISMEMBER, SKELETAL REMAINS, ACERBIC

17. ACERBIC sits at the crossroads of death-thrash and melodic death metal. Where do you think you fit in today’s metal landscape, and where do you see yourselves pushing in the future?

I've found it very difficult to accurately describe the sound of ACERBIC. It's somewhere in extreme metal, but it's not death metal. It's not thrash metal. It's more closely described as a hybrid of sounds. It's deathy, it's thrashy, and it's heavy but without a lack of melody. It's fast and with just the right amount of groove, but we're nowhere near being a [X]core band. There are catchy little nuances in every song that are meant to be memorable. The next ACERBIC release is going to be a more refined sound, more concentrated, if you will.

18. How has the listener's response been so far? Any interpretations or reactions that caught you off guard?

The listeners so far have been excellent. Nothing bad whatsoever, unless people are lying to us. We love all of our fans. It can be challenging, though, because you want honest feedback, but you'll find that often times the people who are closest to you may not want to hurt your feelings with their honest opinion. But we'll never forget Dirk's words: "heavy and inspired!"

19. With the EP on limited CD and cassette only, was that a nod to underground culture, logistics, or simply a personal preference for physical formats?

That was a decision that comes down to multiple points. We're brand new, and this is our first album available to the public. We learned a lesson from the demo release and overestimated the response. Having taken that into consideration, along with the amount of money it costs to get physical media pressed, we decided it would be best to have a limited amount available at first. We can always have a second pressing if there's a demand for it. I think the whole "limited edition" thing is just part of the culture because metal bands aren't pop bands, and there's not a real giant market for extreme metal. You're selling in a market where extreme metal probably makes up 0.7% of the total market. Physical media is extremely important for the bands because that's the only way they can continue to be sustainable in this market, by selling merchandise.

20. What’s next for ACERBIC following the EP release—more shows, more recording, or another evolution of the sound?

We have an EP release show on February 27th, 2026, at The Crypt in Olympia, Washington. After this show, we will still continue to play live, but our focus is going to be on continuing to write for a full-length album. We're looking forward to expanding into other states to spread our disease. Whatever the future holds, we're looking forward to it!