Acid Drinkers – High Proof Cosmic Milk – 4/5
http://www.mediafire.com/d
And so it dawns on me that we have had Miley Cyrus on the front of the blog for a couple of days, elevating this old favourite of mine to the top of the pile rather quickly. Whilst conventionally thought of as belonging to the genre of crossover thrash, particularly in this album I dispute that, opting for a more punk/thrash definition, as whilst it certainly has some traits of hardcore punk, the lack of aggression and rather more ‘shouted’ vocals over the more conventional hardcore rasp leads them to be a rather different beast from their brethren.
The drumming here is excellent, avoiding the use of repetitive beats found in their genre styles, with plenty of changes and fills, whilst perhaps is technical abilities are not to the level of many, his creativity greatly assists in their highly unorthadox sound. The guitar work, whilst at time fairly psychedelic (e.g. High Proof Cosmic Milk) largely adheres to what we would expect from thrash if we removed the aggression. As much as I hate to use the term for the negative connotations attached, describing them as ‘groove’ would certainly apply. Now, before you all switch off at the mention of this, this isn’t another case of a thrash act that simply couldn’t play very quickly, it creates an unusual trance-like atmosphere, a melody that wont leave you alone until the very end.
The vocals too are fitting, as previously mentioned often shouted, or cleanly sung on the slower tracks, but are in themselves nothing to rave about. Rather, it’s the effect the whole has when it comes together. Its unusual atmosphere, variety in pace, from a slow psychedelic crawl to more conventional thrash tones, it all adds up to create an rollercoaster ride of an album, the fairly raw production giving it a little ‘rough around the edges,’ only adding to this effect.
And a line needs to be said about the cover work; simple yet brilliant. Tired of thrash sounding all the same? I welcome you to the world of Acid Drinkers, filled with nonsensical chorus lines and tempo shifts. Acid Drinkers; thrash to get stoned to.
Highlights: Rattlesnake Blues, Be My Godzilla, Blind Leadin’ the Blind
Bonus Round: Acid Drinkers – Are you a Rebel – 3.5/5
http://www.mediafire.com/d
The debut album sees a far less psychedelic, and rather more comical style, and thought the sound is rather more raw in nature, the end result is relatively similar. Not perhaps as good, but certainly worth it if you enjoyed their later work. Plus, I already had it uploaded at the time of writing this, so why not.
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