Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats’ Blood Lust: Fuzzy and Dirty in the Right Places

Blood Lust. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. Rise Above Records. 2011. Metal, Psychedelic. Price varies; about $10 for certain cd pressings – $30 for certain vinyl pressings.

I found out about Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats from a coworker. They stuck out in my mind because I asked what he was listening to, and after he said their name, he added, “They’re banned in England.” I asked what it was they had done so wrong to become banned. After a few very confusing exchanges, I realized he’d said, “They’re a band in England.”

Starting off a relationship with a psychedelic doom metal band amidst fuzzy confusion seems part irony and part realistic likelihood. I started off my relationship with Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats by listening to their Blood Lust record.

Uncle Acid has in large part Black Sabbath to thank for their sound and subject matter. Sabbath must approve as Uncle Acid opened up for their tour in 2013. This is a good thing, and Uncle Acid listeners overall agree, as evidenced by a Youtube fan, one Cameron Stewart who writes, “makes me laugh that people think they need to remind anyone that stoner/doom metal bands sound like sabbath. STFU. WE KNOW. THANKS. capt. fucking obvious.” If that’s what you want to hear, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats is what you want to hear.

Blood Lust begins with “I’ll cut you down” a rollicking, slower than it feels, and deliberately dark drone of an anthem. I picture men mad from drunkenness in small condensation-bathed clubs throbbing their fists off-kilter to the fuzz guitar. The lyrics are creepy and catchy, the chorus starts off, “I want you/and I need you/and I’ll bleed you.”

I’ve always appreciated bands that can inject intensity into their songs without having to speed them up. Adding unnecessary speed always seemed akin to a visual artist who makes work that is needlessly large. Like the short man who shouts the loudest while backing up, I wonder what they’re trying to distract the listener or viewer from observing. Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats is one band that doesn’t shove needless speed into their songs in an effort to build drama. On Blood Lust, the songs have plenty of that intensity on their own.

The drumming style is reminiscent of Chuck Biscuits-era Danzig, heavy on striking the bell portion of the ride cymbal to keep time with a little bit of Irish sounding heavy tom work thrown in. Similarly, the guitar solos are reminiscent of the wicked work of John Christ during his tenure with Danzig. During the solos when the drums and guitar own the speakers, one could wonder if they’re listening to a lost early Danzig record, such as at the end of the third track, Over & Over Again.

On 13 Candles the song relies too long on the same riff and stumbles toward prog-rock, but luckily vocalist K.R. Starrs shows up to announce, “I was on the staircase by the bell/blinded by the black magician’s spell,” and when you listen you think, “Oh so thaaaaaaat’s what took so long.” Starrs’ vocals are altered by some sort of distortion pedal, just as nearly all of the other instruments are. He pulls the lyrics out like taffy muddled with switchblades and bloody syringes, stretching nearly beyond where they’re supposed to exist. Uncle Acid is Starrs’ brainchild, and his voice fits perfectly with the rest of the band that he has gradually pieced together.

The lyrics can be clever and genuinely creepy, but I’ve got to admit these bands should find new ways to creep us out. Metal dudes: we can only take so much torturing of women with ritual knives. Just learn to talk with them already and hopefully neither of you will feel so tortured. Or maybe write songs about torturing men, and the (majority) guys listening to the record will be genuinely creeped out.

The drawback of psych rock is songs can sometimes feel like they’re going on into nowhere. Like a movie that loses its way into a tangential sidestep, psych rock songs can sometimes go on endlessly. This is not bad if you’re listening to music while engaging in an activity that requires distracted concentration, such as motorcycle wrenching or a lengthy bicycle ride or cutting the lawn. If you’re focusing on the music itself and nothing else, riffing drones can become tedious. The key is to take these songs in in the way they were intended: when you’re not in a rush to the end, because the musicians aren’t either.

I give Blood Lust 5 out of 6 shots. It’s very often in the right direction but sometimes the band sounds like they haven’t yet found their sound and are still mimicking too closely their heavy heroes. That’s ok, there is only one way to learn how to fly like the bat that gets its head bitten off by Ozzy, and practice makes perfect.