Over the past thirty years, San Francisco’s Acid King have produced some of the greatest and most expansive stoner metal that the genre has to offer and have deservedly reached storied status with albums like Zoroaster and Busse Woods.
Having released that previous material on famed record labels Sympathy For The Record Industry and Man’s Ruin, the band have returned after a long 8 years and have found the perfect label in Blues Funeral Recordings to bring out their long awaited new record. That first album for the label is entitled Beyond Vision and is definitely a career high for the riff loving stoner rockers as their music soars high from start to finish on this record.
The anthemic ‘One Light Seconds Away’ starts Beyond Vision off as it means to go on with an initial atmospheric intro melding into a grinding riff that then morphs into an expansive series of bigger riffs and grooves and kicks the record off brilliantly and from then on, it’s a series of bigger riffs, grooves and a vibe that takes over with its desire to mesmerise you with its power.
After this majestic opening salvo, Beyond Vision is a constant series of highs like the uplifting dirge of ‘90 Seconds’ and the sparse but hypnotic ‘Electro Magnetic’ a song that adds a touch of a meditative vibe but still retains that Acid King heaviness that we all know and love.
The self explanatory interlude ‘Destination Psych’ sounds as good as you hope it will but with an added sense of triumphant, but unsettling menace that segues into the albums brilliant title track, with typically sublime vocals from Lori S. and some of the best grooves on the album. Things end perfectly on an epic trip with ‘Color Trails’, a beautiful piece of music that starts off sounding as if it is tinged with sadness but soon explodes into a groove packed and life affirming thing of glory and a fine way to finish things off, loudly and triumphantly.
Beyond Vision is a smokey and psychedelic tinged blast of riff filled greatness that sees Acid King do what they do best and long may that continue, let’s just hope that they don’t leave it as long between albums next time.
