One of the truly greatest Metal bands ever has to be the Kenner, Louisiana outfit Acid Bath. Sadly, they are no more. But their genius, and legend, lives on.
Their 1994 debut, “When The Kite String Pops” [Rotten Records], is a true masterpiece. So why do a review so many years later? Because greatness never gets old, it transcends the oblivion fated to the trendwhores.
Acid Bath changed my life forever, making my darkness sublime. Combining darkly poetic, aggressive lyrics with a multitude of musical styles—including Death Metal, Gothic, Doom, Grind, Hardcore, and Swampcore—they were masters of metallic dirge.
Dax Riggs vocals could fluidly shift between a mournful Gothic drone and a harsh, shrill Death growl. Dax‘s voice was incredible, having a subtle brilliance twisting between dark power a soulful imperfection. And lyrics were intensely poetic.
All of the songs are chaotic marvels. “The Blue” is a Psychedelic/Doom Death monster. The groove is fierce. The lyrics state, “The sun burns on, it reminds me of you, the slit wrists of the sky, bleeding into the blue, we twist beneath forever.”
Another one of my favorites is “Scream Of The Butterfly.” It’s an extremely bleak Gothic piece that uses sorrowful, somewhat discordant acoustical instruments along with the electric abysm. Dax‘s voice in a clean, deep howl sings, “A tear spills down her cheek, stillborn songs of a dead dreamer, hymns of the needle freak, with sunlight in her hair she smiles like she don’t care, her dreams are liquid blue.”
Acid Bath‘s lyrics are beautiful, grotesque, horrific, and savage.
Other great songs here include the woeful, yet psychotic “Finger Paintings Of The Insane,” “Jezebel,” “Cassie Eats Cockroaches,” and “The Bones Of Baby Dolls.”
In summary, Acid Bath is not for the timid. Clarity, and beauty, often demand brutality. …As the sky bleeds into the blue. Stay savage. Farewell.
Related Bands: Agents Of Oblivion, Blood Duster, Goatwhore, Sourvein, Grief, Atreyu, etc.
Keep the faith, and the AGGRESSION. War.
Bill Vogel III
Email at: StrangeAeons@hatebox.net
Copyright 2003.
Courtesy of Stranger Aeons Magazine.
