As a still emerging band, SLC's Acacia Ridge are unique in the kind of methodical approach the band has shown in refining their craft.
While most collectives are eager to hit the stage, embrace the thrill of a live audience and suss out the details later, Acacia Ridge took a different route and laid down a complete album before ever introducing as a unit in person.
The result was an effective debut in Watch Your Monarchs Fall - a deft meld of influences spanning from blues and classical to progressive metal, and golden-era alternative. As a relatively unknown outfit, the band tallied some 100,000+ Spotify stream within a month of the album's initial reveal.
Three years after the band's introduction, Acacia Ridge again exercised some patience to ensure their sound was just right to resurface. Reemerging with the single "Playing the Victim" the band has doubled down on their commitment to the details and become more dynamic songwriters in the process. Showcasing driving fretwork, radio ready hooks and a locked-in cadence that serve as the hallmark of straight away rock, Acacia Ridge are a testament to the power and potency of no frills rock.
Of the new effort the band's vocalist Christian Mayfield explains, "'Playing the Victim' and everything coming after it feels like the step forward we’ve always wanted to make with our music. It’s more aggressive, technical, and overall more catchy than anything we’ve done before, but it’s only the first of many. 'Playing the Victim' is just the tip of a very angry iceberg."
Check the Knotfest premiere from the SLC's prospects with the visual for "Playing the Victim" below.
