Showing posts with label War Jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label War Jazz. Show all posts

Friday, 14 March 2025

Acid Age "Perilous Compulsion" Album Review


  For everything that's come before and what has yet to pass one thing can be said about the incomparable War Jazz juggernaut Acid Age there will always be some sort of  insane wackiness within the music they unleash,although their roots are stepped in Thrash Metal they've evolved that thrash foundation into a fusion of all the best parts of Jazz,Death Metal,Black Metal and Progressive Metal with psychedelic elements and plenty more twist and turns along the way, if you thought their previous masterpiece Semper Pessimus was full of wacky surprises well nothing will prepare for the absolute lunacy that is Perilous Compulsion.

  

  

  The incoming madness is commenced with the crushing riff fest that is Bikini Island that countdown intro creates a really combustible and frenzied atmosphere, the relentlessness throughout this has elements of crushing Death Metal combined with jazz infused basslines and face melting shredding while the phenomenal drumming really pushes the boundaries to extreme levels of heaviness,an added bit of trivia behind this track is reference to Bikini Atoll/Marshall Island ,which was used as by the US as a nuclear testing site after WW2 up until 1958, onto the sublime dynamics of the brilliant State Your Business which shows a  few new elements to the bands overall sound including backing vocals courtesy of Jake and the use of clean vocals to give a killer progressive element to proceedings,once again there's another "easter egg" with the concept of the song & lyrical content which has taken inspiration from an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Button Button" , the mind bending Third Eye Locksmith  at times the vocal delivery has subtle homages to Sadus, the musicianship is on another level and switches seamlessly from Thrash,Death To Black Metal while having an ultra heavy rhytmn section,the leads are tinged with insanely sublime psychedelic elements which makes for yet more unpredictability on this opus.

 

   

    Time to get into some relentless thrashing with the overload of speed and heaviness that is Revenge For Sale this is an absolute ripper of a song which combines all the best elements of Thrash & Death Metal, those subtle vocal variations add yet another dimension to the overall sound, once again the rhytmn section destroys like a wrecking ball, the further you get into this album that trademeark Acid Age wackiness keeps going to levels beyond comprehension ,this is really noticable with Every Cliche were we're treated to an absolute cacophony of riff designed to melt your face and make your ears bleed,the volume of riffs along with that sublime bassline is disorientating and dizzying at times and the drumming is insanely sublime.



  Just when you thought there were no more twist and turns to come we get likely one of the most insane songs i've ever heard in my life in the form of  Rotten Tooth , if you've ever wondered why the band have the "War Jazz" moniker well you get it in spades with this terrific song, blues tinged psychedelic intro before launching into yet another cacophony of riffs and blast beats,crazy leads coupled with those deliciouly sublime basslines make for some insane listening, a little after the 5 minute mark just when you thought you heard everything this band can do,next thing you know you hear a Harmonica,suffice to say if you think this doesn't work ,you're wrong it's blends in seamlessly with the bands trademark wackiness, epicness is the name of the game with the ridculously excellent Hamster Wheel ,this goes through plenty of twist & turns and has plenty of progressive elements,the harmonies created between all the different vocals variations goes to absolutely insane levels of quality,it's like they've hit a pinnacle of creativity and  musicianship and renedered everything that came before obsolete,the clean vocal parts on this song are beautifully executed and at times make the song sound like some sort of ballad,yet another element the band can add to their repetoire.

  
  Perilous Compulsion has been 4 years in the making and that wait has been more then worth it, that proverbial glass ceiling has really been shattered now and Acid Age have hit a level worthy of their truly sublime War Jazz wackiness, despite being a long term fan of the band not in my wildest drrams did i think they could unleash the insane levels of skilled musicianship that you'll hear on Perilous Compulsion, dare i say it about Semper Pessimus but they really have surpassed that on a magnitude unimaginable to myself, everything about this from the production,musicianship,song arrangement all the concepts behind the songs are miles beyond what their previous album offered, like any album i've listened to before there was always that element were something would make me laugh or put a smile on my face due to that wackiness,that's all still there added with some crushing brutality, tinged with psychedelic elements that will leave you disorientated and as mentioned previously a rhytmn section that renders everything before it obsolete. this one will possibly be top of my end of year list,a bonafide masterpiece that will be extremely hard to top.

Tuesday, 11 June 2024

Acid Age "Live In Belfast" Album Review


   The beginning of 2023 brought about a few significent events that would change the landscape for the incomparable war jazz merchants Acid Age, around the start of February would see them have their 10th anniversary and was that an experience in itself,what would happen after is the band entered Metal 2 The Masses a few short weeks after and a few months later what still seems surreal they would be announced as the winners which resulted in them performing at Bloodstock, their live shows are something to behold,if you haven't witnessed that madness you reallt are missing out, eventually by the tail end of the year they would record their first ever live album aptly titled Live In Belfast during a live set in The Limelight 2 on 29th December,this release contains select favourites from their phenomenal Semper Pessimus album and some cracking unreleased tracks that will be on next years Perilous Compulsion album.lets delve into this absolutely superlative offering.



 Kicking things off with the Nero-Claudius inspired The Burning Of Rome, this tracks seems to be a template in their live sets and is an absolutely monstrous song full of twist and turns and always goes down a treat, the first taste of what they have in store in the future comes in the guise of the asbsolute rifftastic Revenge For Sale this combines relentless speed with a technicality that is fitting to their wacky sound and time signatures,those familar with the band know full well there's always some sort of hilarity or comedic value,this is a common theme at any of their live shows and as always Jude comes up with some anecdote to get the crowd more invloved and part of the whole experience.

  

    Possibly one of my favourite newer songs is the stonkingly heavy Third Eye Locksmith the groove throughout this is possibly one of the heaviest i've heard in a long time,as can be expected with their trademark wackiness the song goes in all sort of directions leaving a feeling of disorientation with each passing second, yet another new song and like the previous two Every Cliche  will also be another one on the upcoming Perilous Compulsion,this track has the most insanely fast riffing that leads to all sort of mind bending time signatures,within it's base this is a definitive Thrash Metal anthem but you have a bit of Jazz Fusion incorporated into mix,the bassline in this is shockingly heavy and levels the senses like a wrecking ball, there's yet more getting the crowd invloved anecdotes before setting an unstoppable blaze with the rip roaring My Wretched Womb, the absolute madcap wackiness of this songs always puts a smile on my face,the combined elements of jazz fusion,black and death metal all layered on top of a technical thrash nuances is seriously mind blowing and is something that sets this band apart from your traditional Thrash or Death Metal acts.



 Acid Age have really stepped up their game in the last few years with one of the best albums within the Irish scene in the last 5 years,their live shows have become the stuff of legend,people literally don't know how to think or react to the levels of technical ability that they're witnessing,also the fact that they're going to be gracing their presence at Bloodstock Festival for the second year in a row by opening up the whole festival on the Sophie Lancaster Stage is no fluke, the new songs on this live offering are a taste of the lethal dose of  what to expect on their highly anticipated upcoming opus Perilous Compulsion, this release is an awful lot of fun to listen to from one of the most underrated bands out there today, do yourself a favour and go listen to this band.

RATING: 9.5/10




Sunday, 4 April 2021

Acid Age: Semper Pessimus Album Review


  Northern Ireland War Jazz Hellions Acid Age have finally unleashed their third full lenght album Semper Pessimus, it's been five years since their last output the fantastic Like a Runaway Combine Harvester in a Field of Crippled Rabbits, the long overdue wait has been truly worth it, this album is something truly special and needs to be heard to be believed how sublime it is.

Been a long time Fan/Follower of this band since their inception in 2013, the progreesion of their sound and musicianship has got better with each release and finally in my opinion they've reached that undoubted potential i could see when i first heard them,anyway enough of the superlatives for now let's get down to the guts of this album.

  The concept of the album is based around Nero, The last Emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty,each song tells a story of his Tyrannical and Murderous reign; the opening track The Shameless Lyre sets the tone for the whole album perfectly,the spoken word/rhyme section creates an extremely sinister tone for the story to unfold,midway through the song there's a brilliantly executed Millitant style drum solo courtesy of the ultra talented Aran Howe.

There's a very prevelent Progressive structure to the music not too dissimilar to Blind Illusion and Watchtower, Jude's absolutely Stellar Guitar work combined with Jake's insanely Bombastic Basslines are absolutely awe inspiring and almost head exploding at times; there's also a level of brutality/heaviness which is designed to bludgeon and destroy to a level never experienced before, this is also the first time the band decided to go with analog production(previous releases were all digital production), this was a very smart idea as it gives the sound a very old school feel but still the band maintain a level of originality you're unlikely to hear in any modern albums.

 This is a release everyone need to listen to at least once,  every track on offer has something unique and special to it, my personal favourites would either be Banquet Of The Dead or The Burning of Rome but the album as a whole offers plenty of absolutely Top Notch songs, if you decide not to listen to this you'll regret it big time, this is some top level musicianship you're not likely to hear anytime soon.

Digital and Physical copies of The album can be purchased at the link below
https://acidage.bandcamp.com/album/semper-pessimus

Album is also available on Spotify(Link Below)
https://open.spotify.com/album/1Eno0kIBP6OtMloNqBdvcc?si=tSUm5p40Sn2DxBv1cppI7w

Checkout the bands You Tube Channel at the link below
https://www.youtube.com/user/acidagethrash

While you're at it follow the band on Facebook(Link Below)
https://www.facebook.com/acidagethrash