[Live Report] Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, This is Nowhere @An Club, Athens 11/4/2014

After three great albums, and a tour supporting the mighty Black Sabbath, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats visited Greece for the very first time, starting from An Club in Athens. The packed up venue, and “This is Nowhere” as opening act, seemed the best way to set solid foundations for a great gig.
 

Having listened and totally enjoyed This is Nowhere’s recently released debut album (“Turn on, Tune Down, Drop D”), I was really anxious to watch their live version on stage. The result I personally got its kinda mixed. The band from Thessaloniki, decided to play their set non-stop, with a lot of improvisations and the addition of some unreleased material. This fact, accompanied with an over-reverbed and sometimes kinda “blurry” sound, prevented me from “bonding” further with their set. In order to not be misunderstood, I don’t mean that their performance was bad (in fact it was quite decent,) but the most of the time, I had the feeling that I was listening to something unfamiliar, despite the well played psychedelic grooves they kept sending us from stage.

Nearly 20 minutes from the last note we heard from This is Nowhere, and while the time was 23:40 already (I remind you that the original scheduled time for the show’s start was 21:00), Uncle Acid got on stage with their latest album opener “Mt. Abraxas”. The crowd instantly seemed to enjoy this opening choice, while from the first riffs of the song, you could easily understand that the sound of the club was significantly improved. The band from Cambridge was quite energetic on stage, playing with great precision their songs, and judging from the order of their setlist, they had the intention to demolish the place (“Mt. Abraxas”, “Mind Crawler”, “Crystal Spiders”, “I'll Cut You Down” just for the beginning!). Unfortunately, this great flow of passionate Sabbathian heavy rock vibes ended earlier than we expected. After something more than 65 minutes of playing, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats stepped down the stage, and they didn’t come back not even for a single encore. I don’t know if this is the band’s policy or this happened because of the significant delay of the show’s start, but after such a great performance with such a great set, it was kinda pity that ended so early, leaving us with an unfulfilling taste in our mouths. Despite this, if you like Uncle Acid records, you have to watch them live. Judging from their performance on stage, they totally deserve it.

by Vasilis Durden

[Review] Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats - Mind Control

The British masters of fog returned with their new album "Mind Control". A record that everyone, and I mean everyone was expecting. A completely justified waiting since "Blood Lust", an album which came from nowhere, conquered the first place in a lot of end of the year lists. Hundreds of posts and reviews were praising it. Undoubtedly was something exceptional, well-crafted and in a way different. "Vol. 1" had passed unnoticed for many of us. It was a pity because after I paid the appropriate attention to it, I realized how close is to "Blood Lust" in terms of quality. 

Therefore I reached the conclusion that both of them are stunning examples of what a band can do based only on their music. And that's what made me respect Uncle Acid. Their best promotion was their music. I haven't seen a single writing by them, self-praising themselves on how they're the best act.  I put them as one of the most decent bands out there and this played a major role in their success.

Releasing a new album was something like an edged sword for them. On the one hand, everyone wanted to listen more Uncle Acid tunes. We humans are greedy and demand more. Always. Especially when it comes to things that please us. On the other hand, the band had lost the element of surprise they had with "Blood Lust" where no one expecting it and blew our heads off out of nowhere. Adding the burden of success and the fact of your audience waiting something equally spectacular, put some extra pressure to the band.

One of Uncle Acid's strongest characteristics is that they don't afraid to subtly infuse pop in their music. Not with the unblushing way, Ghost do for example. But intelligently giving a pop air, just enough for the average "metalhead" to like it without being aware of it.

And that's why they partially fail in "Mind Control". While they're at their best when they create songs having a pop structure, their more jam-oriented, extended songs lack of vitality. They don't have their distinctive spark. The first half of "Mind Control" continues where "Blood Lust" left. The second one maps different paths and frankly it didn't work for me.

Overall "Mind Control" is surely a sick release. Who can deny the haunting charm of "Mind Crawler", "Poison Apple" or "Evil Love". In my mind though it works like an EP, if you get my point. I don't know what Uncle Acid can and will do next. I don't want to listen another "Blood Lust" or "Vol. 1" even if I worship them. Dark garage doomness is their thing for sure. Maybe they should try some occult freak-beat next. But let's see what the future brings. For now I'm just waiting to catch them live in a few days. From what I read they're good but as a whole it doesn't add anything in the recorded experience. And I'm curious how performing in an open-space will work for them since the only place I can imagine them playing live is in a dark, musty basement...

by Thanos

Tracklist:

01. Mt. Abraxas

02. Mind Crawler

03. Poison Apple

04. Desert Ceremony

05. Evil Love

06. Death Valley Blues

07. Follow The Leader

08. Valley Of The Dolls

09. Devil's Work

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