Stoned

Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba

Artist: Acid Witch
Label: Hell's Headbangers Records
Released: 2010
Running time: 40:43
Rating: 4/5

Acid Witch is a musical experiment in which diabolical black metal riffs, crushing psychedelia, death metal, primal doom and influences like Witchfinder General, Grim Reaper, Venom, Deep purple, Discharge, Black Sabbath, Candlemass, Misfits, Motörhead and a few more obscurely incompatible things come together quite naturally under one cloak of sacrilege. Acid Witch put a spell on you with simplicity, guttural vocals, ominous organs, devastating guitar solos and the enigmatic mystery of who plays which instrument or what anyone is even called. After the departure of drummer and vocalist Lasse Pyykkö, Acid Witch have been pruned down by a third, and the rest of the maimed whole, Slasher Dave and Shagrat, took all the threads into their own hands and gave birth to a full-length second-born. The album is a tightly knit tapestry of humorously serious satanic atmosphere, and each of the ten tracks has a measure of melody, massive and brutally sweet rhythmic hypnotics, and bizarrely interesting and funny lyrics. Stoned notwithstanding, Stoned is a concept album about occult themes in an old rustic manner, where the mixing of the roots of psychedelia, the new wave of eighties metal, doom, crust and primal death metal is completely subordinated to worshipping the holy smoke of hellish weed and THC, parodically simple satanic ritual and comic-book caricatures of the devil himself. Despite all that, you can hardly accuse them of mockery, irony or half-heartedness! Despite all that, this is not a recycling of already-heard sounds from the genre forefathers Black Sabbath or from the modern-day stoner delegates Electric Wizard! The music, though simple and seemingly naive, is thoroughly self-made down to the last bit, garage-tight and above all effective. Proof that Shagrat and Slasher dave aren't turning to the craft to poke fun at the audience or at the motifs listed above. As the verse from the track Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown vividly sums it up: “Dont fuck with fire lest you feel like getting burned / Torture is to kind for a jock asshole like you / I’m rocks chosen warrior, Ive evoked the demon Sammi Curr / and he’s given me the power to nail all of you!” and you damn well believe, or at least suspect, that the two guys mean it murderously. The production is warm yet rock-solid and dirty, and considering that Acid Witch handled everything themselves, it's solid and close to the above-average D.I.Y. craftsmanship you hardly find anywhere these days (or only rarely). The record is worth many repeat listens (and, above all, relatively effortless ones)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMM3WomNLk

Acid Witch are no revolutionaries, but they never claim to be reinventing the wheel either. Stoned is a solid product of a higher quality tier that will please a wide range of listeners, and the record easily makes the top third of last year's best stoner-psychedelic-doom-death releases. That said, it does make you wonder whether this kind of epic has been in short supply lately. The backing of the extreme-friendly label Hell’s Headbangers has also supported the attempt to penetrate the masses with both a CD and a lavishly packaged vinyl, so those of you who swear by enjoying music via the (turntable) needle are well taken care of too. The only flaw of this otherwise praiseworthy and enjoyable release is that Acid Witch stayed at exactly the same level as on their debut Witchtanic Hellucinations, and its successor Stoned is merely a repeat of what we've already heard, with one member fewer and two more years on its back.

This review was written in collaboration between Rock Hard Slovenija and RockLine. 

Lineup

Slasher Dave – guitar, bass, organ, vocals
Lasse Pyykkö – vocals, drums *
Shagrat – guitar, vocals

Production

Acid Witch

Tracklist

1. Satanic Faith
2. Witchfynder Finder
3. Trick Or Treat
4. Thundering Hooves
5. Live Forever
6. Whispers In The Dark
7. If Hell Exists
8. Stoned To The Grave
9. Metal Movie Marijuana Massacre Meltdown
10. Sabbath Of The Undead