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Class 6(66)
Acid Bath: Paegan terrorism tactics
25/03/11 || Khlysty
Introduction
Back in the ‘90s, the Southeastern states of U.S. of A. displayed a bizarre and dangerous tendency, that is, of producing bands that played a very violent kind of music. That music mixed and matched – with all the tenderness of a rabid bull elephant – doom with groovy elements of da blues and HxC, coating everything with ten inch thick guitar grime and singing – mostly incomprehensibly – ‘bout all things miserable and misanthropic. This kind of heavy music has been slapped with the “sludge” tag and has given us some of the best U.S. bands: Eyehategod, Crowbar, Acid Bath… Ah, here we are. Acid Bath, although dumped – pretty logically, I must say – with the rest of their sludgy brethren, have quite a few quirks that set them apart from that junk-shooting, no-good-for-nothin’ lot.
See, Acid Bath seems almost too tame and melodic, when compared with the monolithic distorto-dissonance of, say, Eyehategod. Their songs seem to take a lot of cues from late-‘60s, early-‘70s psychedelia (of the darker kind, of course) and the usual screeching that passes for vocals in sludge is dominantly replaced by clean and pretty melodious singing. I mean, WTF!!! Did pussies take over this most pushback-y and misanthropic subgenre?? Nah, not really. A long time ago, in a review far, far away I had posited that sludge signifies a band’s passage from maryjane to smack. In the Acid Bath case, though, the drugs seem to be different than heroin; more, shall we say, exotic. And this shows in the music.
Not to say that Acid Bath ain’t, like, heavy or monolithic per se, ‘cause that’s not the case. When the band decides to stomp the lights out of the listener, it does with frightening intensity. It’s just that “Paegan Terrorist Tactics” is more “mind-expanding” than anything Crowbar or da ‘God have ever even dreamed of producing, what with its deep sense of melody and clean singing and its deliberately somehow-approachable song structures and riffing. Am I getting through to you? No? Well, let’s try to break this beast into its component parts, to see if things get a little clearer, shall we? Splendid!
Songwriting
9. As I said before, Acid Bath liked to emerge themselves into more exotic sounds and moods than your basic sludge-hounds. This means that one will find among the rocks-grinding-themselves-slowly riffing that typifies the genre quite a few interesting trespasses into more mellow territory. Flanged guitars. Acoustic passages or whole songs. Clean singing, along with the typical throat-ripping screams that come part-and-parcel with sludge. Coherent song structures, that sometimes might remind the listener of Soundgarden or Alice In Chains, in their more “down” mood. Overtures into what I can only describe as goth rock of the highest (or lowest, as far as the mood is concerned) order. An overall melancholic mood pervading the record, that contrasts sharply with the typical junk-induced misanthropy that characterizes sludge. Plus, a sui generis sense of groove that puts Acid Bath in a different light when compared to their other Louisiana brethren.
The fact that the band manages to pull together all these disparate elements into a whole that’s at the same time exceedingly fucking heavy, disconcertingly mind-altering and – sometimes – beautiful is a feat in and of itself. The fact that these guys had the state of mind to experiment so broadly within such a confined genre is almost magickal. The fact that, so many years after its release and so many bands that tried to up the ante as far as misanthropic slow music is concerned, the record holds its own perfectly is a testament to the musical genius of its creators. Too bad, then, that Acid Bath went and split a bit afterwards. But, with a legacy like this, maybe that was for the best.
Production
8,5. Great production values on this one: the sound is clear and loud and organic and powerful and it’s the sound of a band recording songs in a studio and not the digitally-tweaked and contorted shit that pollutes music – and metal, in particular – these days.
Guitars
9. Schizophrenic. The two guitarists easily pull off some of the heaviest sludge imaginable, only to revert to clean picking or, even, acoustics in a blink’s time. When they go for the heavy, they out-Sabbath Eyehategod EASILY, creating monolithic slabs of barely-musical riffing. When they go into a more sensitive mood, they’re perfect in creating a melancholic – but never moppish – ambiance. Leads? What leads? We’re talking ‘bout sludge, matey…
Vocals
9. Dax Rigg’s screams carry enough venom to kill a rattler dead. But, the guy prefers using a clean baritone that’s much more insidious, as it conveys despair in a much more expressive way than any screecher. His singing is perfectly suited for such moody music and I really enjoy it when he juxtaposes it with his screaming and with the roar of the guitars.
Bass
5. Is it really there? Can’t really say that I have detected it. Oh, well, I suppose that it just plays the root notes of the riffs. Can’t have it all, now, can we? On a sidenote, bassist Audie Pitre died in 1997, forcing the band to split. Sad, ain’t it?
Drums
8. The guy knows his shit. He can play the slow, he can easily do the mid-paced, he can do the fast, just like that. Also, I think that he displays a lot of self-regulation (in that, he never goes over his battery, although I think that that’s exactly what he’d like to do), so an added point for strength of character.
Lyrics
9. Dax Rigg’s lyrics are surprisingly and strangely poetic (e.g. “ On the cold side of her face/The reptiles awake/Locust swarm from open mouths/That sing thy kingdom come/While blackness hums/Nothing is true/and I’m tired of your sad today”). If more metal bands paid such attention to the lyrical content of their songs, well, things might be a bit better for everyone.
Cover art
9,5. A painting by Jack “Dr. Death” Kevorkian adores the cover of “Paegan Terrorism Tactics”. Need I say more?…
Logo
2. No logo, just the band’s name in a yucky font. Nothin’ to talk ‘bout.
Booklet
-. No booklet, a friend burned me a copy of this, telling me to “listen to it, die and fuck off”. Nice of him…
Overall and ending rant
Yes, it’s been known that I like the low and the slow and the miserable and Acid Bath is all that. But they’re also the heart-breaking and the sad and the melancholy and the morbidly beautiful. “Paegan Terrorism Tactics” is a record to contemplate to, besides being able to be pulverized by its heaviness. I hate to say it, but, even if you don’t like slow music or sludge, you gotta admire and hold close to your heart such a monumental work of – angry, yes, and desperate, but also uplifting in its controlled bleakness – art. Go buy and listen and die. Happily.
- Information
- Released: 1996
- Label: Rotten Records
- Website: Acid Bath MySpace
- Band
- Dax Riggs: vocals
- Sammy “Pierre” Duet: guitars, backing vocals
- Mike Sanchez: guitars
- Audie Pitre: bass, backing vocals
- Jimmy Kyle: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Paegan Love Song
- 02. Bleed me an ocean
- 03. Graveflower
- 04. Diäb Soulé
- 05. Locust Spawning
- 06. Old Skin
- 07. New Death Sensation
- 08. Venus Blue
- 09. 13 Fingers
- 10. New Corpse
- 11. Dead Girl
- 12. Ode of the Paegan (hidden track)
