Album Review: Acid Age - Perilous Compulsion
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
When I first clicked play on the new album from Northern Ireland’s Acid Age, I was expecting to listen to some thrash metal. With one of their songs cleverly entitled “Every Cliché”, I thought I knew what to expect. However, after doing some research about the threesome, I kept seeing two words being used to describe them, “War-Jazz”, which piqued my interest even further. With seven new songs from the power trio to get through, I delved right in and sat back to absorb the sonic blast that awaited me.
“Now then, where the hell do I start with this one?” was the question that kept reverberating around my head as I listened to this incessant cacophonous noise that was melting my speakers. To pinch and adapt a well-known phrase, “it’s thrash Jim, but not as we know it”. The madness begins with “Bikini Island” and what seems to be a 1930’s style public announcement, and then all hell breaks loose. A guttural, seemingly never-ending scream from Jude certainly makes an entrance before the eccentric and over the top bass playing from Jake hits you over and over again, but it pulls you deeper into their music.
By the time I got to second track “State Your Business” my head was all over the place trying to make sense of it all. The bass playing again stands out, before the thrash guitar takes over, followed by a jazz fusion, which really makes me smile. They somehow manage to combine elements of prog, black and speed metal and take it to places that I’ve never heard before.
It’s innovative beyond belief and I can’t help but want it more and more. The technical side of their composition is seriously impressive, and as the band themselves say “this is a psychedelic symphony of savage proportions” and you do get that feeling of being mauled. “Third Eye Locksmith” initially begins as a more formulaic thrash song, with traditional riff and then the explosion begins, with Aran pummelling away on the drums, but you get that crunchy guitar sound synonymous with the genre.
You get a true headbanger with “Revenge for Sale”, with its ferociously quick intro and just as you think it’s going to slow down, they hit the hyper drive button and ramp it up even more. Then they break out into a jazz influenced, almost prog style musings, further strengthening their case when they say that “the album has progressed within the thrash genre without radically altering it”. The aforementioned “Every Cliché” is next and it blows up everything that cliched thrash is usually about, as it covers so many bases in a blistering 5 and half minute assault on your senses, so get ready, as it will blow your mind!
With a western style entrance, “Rotten Tooth” shows more variety to their musical armoury, and then that heavy prog style is evident once more. This is over seven minutes long but never feels too long or overplayed with too many solos, so sit back and enjoy. The journey into the world of “War-Jazz” ends with what feels like a blasting off into space, with its long pensive build up that leads to a cleaner vocal on “Hamster Wheel.” I get that early 90’s Queensryche vibe before they get back to business with a vicious wall of sound attacking you from all angles. It will leave you quite breathless and trying to figure out what the hell has just happened over the previous 45 minutes, so good luck with that conundrum!!!
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