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Acid King
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III
Small Stone Records
Release: 6/21/2005
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Rated:
Review by:
Jason Warner
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It's a small world in rock and roll. Acid King is a band from
San Francisco that loves the low end sludge that is stoner rock.
The band apparently lost their bassist, Guy Pinhas, and veteran
rocker, Rafael Martinez stepped in to fill Guy's shoes on the
bass. Rafa, as he is affectionately known, is the former
guitarist for another great stoner rock band, Gammera. Well,
as it turns out, another former member of Gammera, Scott
Selfridge, now lives and plays in beautiful Salt Lake City, and
I've played several shows with his various bands here in our
fine city in the mountains. Anyway, small world.
When I first listened to Acid King's latest album,
III, I thought I was listening to the greatest Black
Sabbath influenced band ever. My opinion did not change after
repeated listening, but then I went online looking for more info
on the band. The singer, who I thought sounded an awful lot
like early-Sabbath era Ozzy, is actually a female, and a very
ballsy singing female at that. I found that Lori S. not only
handles the vocals, but also the guitar work for Acid King, and
that she formed the band back in 1993. Now I feel a little
stupid even stating this in the public arena because now that I
know it's a female singing, I can tell. But at first I was
uncertain. I guess this is just another example of the gender
bias of the music industry and our society in general. When we
hear a blistering, fuzzed out sonic attack we don't necessarily
think about that sound coming from an angry woman. I am
here to tell you that Lori has given me reason to pause, and
henceforth and forever I will know that a woman can rock just
as hard, or harder than a man. III is Lori's
proof.
"2 Wheel Nation" kicks off the album, and the thunder and fuzz
don't let up for the next 45 minutes and seven tracks of ear
drum assault. The songs are slow, riff-heavy, and powerful.
"2 Wheel Nation" is my favorite track, but all the songs are
good. The fuzz cannot accurately be described in words, it
must be experienced. The bass is fuzzy, the guitar is fuzzy,
the vocals are fuzzy, and the drums are biting.
This album is a must have for lovers of the stoner rock. |
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