Acid King | website | facebook |
Released on April 17, 2015 via Svart Records
A cursory look at the history of Acid King throws up an almost Spinal Tap-like discarding of bass players that you wonder how, with such an integral part of their sound, they can keep on producing the goods. Producing they do though, and with Middle Of Nowhere, Center Of Everywhere they have recorded one of the most exciting doom releases of the year so far. Yes, we’re only a couple of months in, but in terms of setting the bar high, Acid King have literally blown a fuse in pumping up the odds.
It’s obvious from the off that they mean business as the deep, ominous rumble of the intro starts its steady climb into a swirling vortex of noise. From here it just doesn’t stop and if you are faint of mind you best steer clear. There is some heavy shit happening here and at times it feels like you may have just dropped a handful of shrooms and smoked a big fat one. This is drug music of the highest order yet grounded by an analogue sound that highlights some of the heaviest riffs you’ll hear all year.
‘Silent Pictures’ is the first inclination of the true power of this album as it slowly unfolds around Lori’s vocals who, as the song progresses, sounds more and more like she is falling down a spinning hole as all around riffs fly past her like granites of rock. It’s heavy, it’s intense, it’s beautiful.
As the album settles things get even more sludgier with the epic ‘Laser Headlights’ standing out as one highlight. With the drums keeping their intricate back-beat and the fuzzed bass chunking up the sound, the guitar solos wind their way through the passages until once again we are beckoned into Lori’s world.
Although each of these songs manages to stretch out to anything between seven and ten minutes, the sheer power of the music sweeps you along for the ride. Each is subtly enhanced by the various riffs that sink in when you least expect it, or the change in pace as a harmony seeps in. ‘Red River’ is a great example of this with its clarion call vocals upping the ante after the desolate ‘Laser Headlights’. It’s a moment of clarity amongst all the fuzz although it’s fair to say that within a couple of minutes your strung out on the torporous music and find yourself zoning out again. It’s medication that soothes the brain and mind for all its calamitous noise.
Best of all is the utterly brilliant ‘Infinite Skies’, which finally casts off any aspersions to normality and sends your mind into free fall as the music spins around you and the reverbed vocals get more and more strung out. It’s akin to being thrown into an echo chamber with a trio of hairy musicians pounding out the greatest music you will ever hear and if music has the ability to turn your stomach, this must be Acid King’s version of sea-sickness, albeit without any of the hurling. Instead you find yourself enjoying every single moment.
Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere is in a similar vein to that acid trip you once bought of that dodgy looking person in the darkest depths of some music festival. You approach with caution, but once it hits you find yourself having the best time of your life. It’s dirty, grimy but so much fun and for all its full on power, is a measured and clever album made by a bunch of supremely talented musicians. If Acid King were around in the 70’s they would surely be giving Black Sabbath a run for their money, at least on the basis of this album.
