Uncle Acid & the deadbeats-Mind Control

“Bloodlust”, smeared with low-grade horror-slasher movie inspired type of lyrics which you need not to take it too seriously-Adi Renaldi.

 

Being curious about this band since Mr. Adi Renaldi’s 2011 list of heavy metal/rock albums, I can’t help but spend some dime for their sophomore, “Bloodlust”. Just like what He wrote, that album felt so raw, claustrophobic and enigmatic yet “polishedly” packaged with an artwork snapped from low-grade horror-slasher film scene then described as: “A tale of greed, torture, madness and murder”.

And now it’s time to jack up the game.

Moving further from greed and its compatriots, and away from Bloodlust’s rawness and  low production value, They took a more conceptual album style with slightly better production value, which I reckon as quite linear stories inspired from (correct me if I’m wrong) partially, The Manson Family (or “Helter Skelter”, a film I saw 2-3 years ago, depicted Manson promised salvation by waiting out the black and white war (in which the Blacks should triumph) in a secret city that was underneath Death Valley that they would reach through a hole in the ground), a preference that I can’t shake off, mixing it with crazier sect ritual went awry because the killing begins at first phase or probably the family from more deranged perspective.

Unlike Sleep’s Dopesmoker which offers unrealistic utopian idea or OM that sounds spiritual, this band tries to maintain its grip with reality even though the chosen reality seems obsolete. But the effort deserves a lot more than just nods to the riffs.

Musically, this album sounds like a listenable, hooky version of Cathedrals’s Forest of Equilibrium. Note the album structure where one catchy, the thrashing, “Evil Love” covered by doomy heavy metal/rock sound sung by adolescent John Osbourne hanging out with John Lennon (alright…. The handwritten lyrics by Mark Griffiths and layout, booklet & label designs by Lee), then thereafter, subtly executed to match the whole story. 

Mt Abraxas kickstarts the album with mid tempo slicing riffs, where a third person describes a journey embarked due to false premonition (concluded by massive killing according to the telegram), which the doubt and killing come when Cathedral-smeared-Sabbath coda pullulates. After the killing, The “Son of God” rides a stolen motorbike, lures soon-to-be followers, gets some and starts crawling through their mind. Apparently the “What could you do?/ and would you die for me too?” queries are springe that he has already “stood up high on the altar” and his ”words seep into their brain”.

The Mind Crawling is intensified in Poison Apple (I’m the air you breathe, the sun, the earth of your grave, blood, animal, blood, cocaine….all life, dark, light, deity thingy) capped with stronger springe…”I’m the broken lock that’s on your door” subtly wrapped with non-forceful yet dragging-haunting riffs. Be that as it may his followers are enough, The Son of God starts the (drug-laden) ritual “Desert Ceremony” where all the followers “won’t have time to ignore the sign” and after the ceremonial guitar solo, Starrs & Rubinger dispatch another fine Cathedral-Sabbath heavy moment.

The Mansonic imagery takes more prominent spotlight in Evil Love and Death Valley Blues. All along the catchy, Soul Sacrifice-esque tunes, “Evil Love”, The Son of God engrafts false consciousness that masks the hate and evil love through drugs. A follower realizes the coercion but he/she can’t run because he/she has adhered to his programme. But it could be socio-political statement either due to Starrs' cleverly written “TV Eye that flicker with pain / Like Hollywood faces in black cocaine”. Death Valley Blues, a song title that needs no further explanation, is where a psychedelic bonanza turns doom rock portrays what have thought controls achieve: the followers “won’t question his plan” because he “gets them on the palm of his hands / always in thought control / voices…no choices” plus the persuading “Let’s hide out in Death Valley” line.

Tex: "People seem to think that Manson had all of us drugged out, while he remained sober so he could easily manipulate our minds. This may be true, but a sorcerer such as Manson uses mind-altering drugs himself in order to contact spiritual beings, and gain supernatural powers."

"He did use drugs to manipulate and control us, and the more drugs we took, the easier it was for him to manipulate us with his philosophy. We all began to reflect his views, a mirror image of destruction, growing worse every day. We mirrored his lifestyle and attitude toward society."

Which brings us to “Follow The Leader”. A song that sounds out of place in the album but this is what a good story needs: not a plot twist but a cicerone to the conclusion, a unique one. Is that sitar? Or mandolin? Whatever it is, its sound substantiates the drug effect while the spells capped with “You are the chosen one / You know what to do”. And Rubinger knows what to do: patiently flanking Starrs throughout the string picking sound with monotonous, horrific yet hypnotizing downstroke. Truly the record’s centerpiece.

The significance of this story’s climax is something unfathomable by Mr. Andy O’Connor. Valley of The Dolls, probably a lost Cathedral’s song, is where The Son of God discharges the Army through a clever wordplay (the one and only buffoonery throughout the record that can be laughed at) “Valley of The Dolls…Valium Blood Walls” and the first mission is accomplished.

The record is capped with apocalyptic Devil’s Work, where the terror assembling is finished and it’s ready to independently proliferate. The 05:05 till the end of this song capture a bleak-terrorized world. Jot down the book of revelation reference “Our numbers multiplied from one to seven” as well. What a trip.

In between the record, Starrs coaxes: “I’ll show you god on the highest. Up where no one can see”-“You know I wouldn’t lie, we’ll go up to the sky”. 

And now, probably You need to take their hidden agenda quite seriously!

me? I’ve already been a minion in the acid coven.