June 22, 2013

UNCLE ACID "Mind Control" (2013)


Brittish international men of mystery UNCLE ACID And The Deadbeats are a quartet of drone-doom-electric-fuzzy-wtf-rock, by which I mean they've kinda created their own sound over the past few years since the band's birth. With their first more obscure album "Volume 1" and the spectacular god-tier effort "Blood Lust", the band's ambiance and Hammer Horror feel has found a way into my record collection. 

Let's take this piece by piece: the first preview of the stuff on "Mind Control" was the single "Poison Apple", which is streamed on youtube by the band itself, and is pretty much the strongest track on this album, with a catchy riff and catchier lyrics, it's the cream here. When I heard the whole LP, I got confused: the first half is very good, Uncle Acid-worthy material. Heavy stuff, no questions asked, but then after the first 5-6 songs, stuff got reaaaallly boring. Boring for an Uncle Acid fan, which was expecting more of their caracteristic sound, but got a couple of overly-repetitive drone songs, whom might actually please drone enthusiasts (drone enthusiasts should get a job), but in the end fail to deliver the fuzzy goodness that these Deadbeats should deliver.

This album's definitive strong point, besides its lyrical concept starring a desert cult that steals motorcycles and performs rituals in the sand, is that it all basically plays like "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", but dragged 30 miles through the Australian outback, rolled through some swamp mud and then coated in fuzz like a donut made of doom, yet you can stiff clearly hear its roots in 60s progressive acid rock. Also, that cover art's fucked up man, like.. really fucked up, so that could have gotten some improvement, because the arts for "Vol. 1" and especially "Blood Lust" are some of the best I've seen.

Final Rating: 7/10.

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