OK it’s time to regress. Acidbrain swim in the gore infested flooded basement of a thousand other serial killer obsessed death/grind acts. They splatter the 16 tracks here with subject matter and samples that were kinda shocking when Eaten Back to Life came out some 33 years ago but to most seasoned (salt and pepper on roasted penis maybe) veterans it is same ol’ same ol’.
There is a cover that ends the album – Dead Skin Mask by that Catholic / Satanist thrash band you may have heard of whilst the rest of the album is original ditties featuring lots of guest artistes I am too old to have heard of or they are too underground to have bothered my addled brain.
AcidBrain is the product of Anthony Cotter who writes and records the music and lyrics as well as providing the artwork. He has drafted in Steve Ras on vocals and of course invited a veritable smorgasbord of collaborators to join them from various music projects from Vulvodynia to horror rapper Jeffrey Neurotic amongst others.
I’ll be honest, I was over rape and torture lyrics the first time I heard them as a teenager despite having a predictable fascination with serial killers at the time. The macabre will always fascinate and the horrors that man does to man will always fill the minds and record collection of many folk. In 2019 those purveyors of misogynistic slam Devourment” chose to drop the gender based abuse for their “Obscene Majesty” release kick-starting an interesting debate on the treatment of women as victims in extreme music.
“Wokerati” I hear you cry into your Top Gear annual. Well whilst women continue to be most at danger from men they know and are in a relationship and today’s news included footage of an unconscious woman appearing to be sexually assaulted by police in a police station and tribal war in India culminating in women being marched through the streets naked and then gang-raped on film the lyrical content of this album seems all the more disturbing and puerile.
Talk of pulling a woman’s intestines through her vagina to make a noose with which to strangle her with. I mean c’mon AcidBrain are you just going to get ChatGPT to rewrite Cannibal Corpse lyrics?
So you get it. Philosophically I am not down with this album. I don’t think it should be censored but I just find the concept and the lyrics tired and make me think of the toxic numpty who got arrested coz he ordered a pizza whilst hiding from Romanian police.
So time to disassociate and as I said regress.
How is the music Mason? I better get off my middle aged high horse and address that.
The album kicks off with a woman sobbing via a sample with some basic “spooky” electronica. “Limbless Fuckdoll” that follows is pretty good. I get Murderdoll’s early 2000 mall goth vibes from it. Hot topic death metal with a good groove. It is obvious that it is a one man project there is nowt organic about this album- despite the subject matter. The production is very electronic and safe but each track trips along at a nice pace. “Eyeball Anal Beads” is as daft as it sounds. Steve Ras vocals are reminiscent of Wednesday 13 and once I notice that I cannot unhear it and I imagine the stripe shirted teen idol spitting lines about killing voluptuous teens to crowd of indentikit emokids. I am kinda into it musically – it is fun and gets those mash potato dances going every so often that the slam kids like to do whilst still keeping some mainstream metal grooves.
The guests – despite my ignorance – certainly add summat. Dreyden Burrows brings the deep dark swine throat on Blood Drunk to great effect. Nice chunky riffs in there as well. A-T-M A-T-M features Martin Trafford who may or may not be a graphic artist who specialises in splatter art covers (as in gore not Jackson Pollock) . The track is pretty damn fine. Post Decapitation Irrumatio – mixes in some prog elements as well as early Carcass sounds via guests Vulvodynia and Nate Gilbert. There are a couple of mini tracks on here 6 and 7 seconds and they are well orchestrated and work well rather than comedic blasts.
Jeffrey Neurotic a Horror Hip hopper gets a go on the mic on “Snuff Tape” – it goes a bit Slipknot wit the compression on his vocals but I kinda dig it and at 1.36 it gets going and gets gone in good time.
The Dead Skin Mask cover is superfluous – it is there. You may like it. It doesn’t add anything though.
All in all Acidbrain are old enough to know better. The concept is old hat and should be put in the fucking sea. Finding entertainment in sexual torture of women is abhorrent.
The album is pretty good though if you can (as we should all be able to do) separate the art from what the message appears to be.
now go hug your mum and say sorry.
(7/10 Matt Mason)
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