### Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats: Blood lust

#### 17/09/12 || Habakuk

I don’t know how I discovered this, but I listened to it on Youtube once and had to get it. It’s not like I had never heard a fucken 70s hard rock / doom metal revival band before, but hot daymn is this shit good. “Blood lust” oozes old school, and not in a gimmicky way – although the tongue-in-cheek, sleazy occult horror movie style the booklet and cover are designed in, one might easily mistake these guys for overdoing things. Does not happen.

It’s quite simply a great album. First of all, the production. One cannot overlook the similarities to Graveyard’s ”Hisingen Blues” released in the same year (2011) under much critical acclaim. This album breathes, vibrates and resonates. Be it the acoustic proceedings of the bonus track “Down to the fire” (fittingly underscored with the crackling of a fire) or the gainy distortion meeting thick low-end and a perfect sounding organic drumkit on the “normal” tracks, this album sounds like you’re in a rehearsal room (or at a … rehearsal campfire) with the band, enjoying a stellar sound that actually is quite clear despite the gritty power emanating from your speakers. Note that laptop speakers and the likes turn this into an absolute mess due to the mid-heavy mix, but a decent sound system of headphones will make it a revelation.

Musically, the album carries an energetic vibe I’ve rarely encountered in a band so decidedly focussing on the old, weed-ridden days. The band miraculously manage to combine a warm, laid-back feel with great drive, partly owed to Uncle Acid’s piercing, psychedelically distorted style of singing (imagine a version of 70s Ozzy Osbourne that could actually sing) which is juxtaposed to the twangy riffs and warm but snappy bass. Electric Wizard come to mind as a comparison, however Uncle Acid and his crew don’t really sound all that heavy. Yes, there is a thick layer of old school fuzz, but it’s not at all suffocating the sense of melody that drives killer riffs like in “13 candles” or “Over and over again” forwards. They also mark the spots where the album shines most: when the band just go to a standard 4/4 beat and let it flow. When they stray from that straightforward approach (“I’m here to kill you”, “Ritual knife”), they lose me a bit, as personally I’m totally into the atmosphere of the whole thing, and I think it translates best without any head-work on my part.

So as I’m hazily sinking deeper and deeper into my imaginary armchair, through the dopey mist I reach for that distant face at the far side of the room… Guide me into the occult, Uncle Acid!

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Killer Candy Records
- Website: Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats MySpace
- Band
- Uncle Acid: vocals, guitars, mellotron, synths
- Red: drums, voodoo maracas
- Kat: bass

- Tracklist
- 01. I’ll cut you down
- 02. Death’s door
- 03. Over and over again
- 04. Curse in the trees
- 05. I’m here to kill you
- 06. 13 candles
- 07. Ritual knife
- 08. Withered hand of evil
- 09. Down to the fire