Acid Witch Stoned

Acid Witch 'Stoned' (Hell's Headbangers 2010)

Look at that packaging! Poster, glossy cover, hideously coloured vinyl and a die cut Halloween decoration. It can only be Hell's Headbangers, probably the best metal label out there at the moment. They always put that little bit extra into their products and the service from their online distro is second to none. I am a bit dubious about some of the labels they distribute, but I will leave that to another time, as I need to find out exactly what is happening directly from the horse's mouth.

Acid Witch consist of Slasher Dave and Shagrat, their logo was designed by Putrid and their album is called 'Stoned', do you really need to know anything else?
Take this album with a pinch of salt, it's good fun, but the substance isn't really there. Opening with a Goblin esque track, 'Satanic Faith', which would not be out of place on the soundtrack of Argento's 'Suspiria', and including samples of a staid newscaster describing the terrors of Satanic devil worshippers, you know what you're getting from the off. 'Striking back at the world of technology?.' a statement this band definitely want to adhere to!

'Witchfynder Finder' is an inspired song title and is easily the best track on the album. The organ is kept to a minimum, which is great as it becomes far too cheesy elsewhere, and the song gallops along in a wonderfully chuggy manner.

Overall, the vocals are fairly standard Stockholm death metal and the music is an amalgam of death metal, classic 80's metal and Deep Purple style 70's organ fuelled rock. When it works, it induces pleasant head nodding, but when it becomes too self-aware it is a bit hard to resist raising the Moore eyebrow.

There's quite a bit of filler here with two introductions, side two starts in the same Goblin style as side one, and an instrumental, 'Thundering Hooves'. However, despite its shortcomings there is something undeniably loveable about this album. With song titles like 'Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown', and lyrics like ''Metal, punk, comic books, and horror VHS/ Nothing else to live for so you might as well obsess', it's obvious that this album should appeal on many levels, and their t-shirts are great!

This is by no means a classic, but it's a respectable 'B' Movie of an album, and I'll definitely play it loud again when I next have friends round for beer.

Peace