Acid Witch - Stoned

Halloween is an odd holiday, it serves as kind of a melting pot for ancient folklore, horror, campy humor, candy, and childhood pranks. It is also the most metal of holidays. Be that as it may, there aren’t very many bands that really manage to blend all of the different aspects of Halloween into a believable theme. Type O Negative comes to mind, maybe King Diamond, and now Acid Witch. Acid Witch established themselves as Halloween heavy weights with their 2008 debut Witchtanic Hellucinations, a weird and quirky mixture of death/doom and 70’s psychedelic rock. It was a rather risky marriage of sounds, but the album had an undeniable charm to it, and was generally well-received. I will admit to being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the album, and was really excited when I heard that they had a second album coming out.

Thankfully, Stoned doesn’t deviate very much from the formula that was established on Witchtanic Hellucinations. The deep death growls, thick distorted guitar tone and generally slow pace of the music stand out right away, and are hallmarks of the death/doom genre. These elements are all important to Acid Witch’s sound, but it is the 70’s inspired riffs that really set the band apart. Acid Witch excel at laying down a punishing groove and riding it through to the end of the song. “Witchfynder Finder” and album closer “Sabbath of the Undead” are great examples of this; simple direct songs that really stick in your head. “Trick or Treat” and “Stoned To the Grave” offer a slightly more dynamic take on this sound with a just a hint of melody in the guitar work. “Trick or Treat” features a particularly memorable riff that might just be Tony Iommi’s worst nightmare. The whole album is peppered with samples that were probably taken from some vintage B horror movie, and keyboards that sound like they were recorded in a smoke-filled basement circa 1971. The keyboards really add to the 70’s vibe, campy but enjoyably so, and never really do anything more than provide a touch of atmosphere.

Acid Witch are a strange band, and certainly not the type of thing that everybody will like. You have to like really heavy death metal, and you have to be willing to accept a band who are clearly not taking themselves very seriously. From where I sit, Stoned is a great album. It is heavy, catchy and a whole lot of fun to listen to. Most importantly, Acid Witch are actually a pretty original band. You just don’t normally hear this kind of old school riffing used so extensively by a death/doom band. Maybe Acid Witch aren’t a death/doom band at all. It might just be that they are really the world's heaviest stoner rock band. Regardless of what you call them, Acid Witch have delivered a hell of an album with Stoned and I expect it to remain in my rotation for quite a long time.

Release Date: January 18th, 2011
Label: Hells Headbangers

TRACK LISTING

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

Total playing time:  40:43

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*Comments:

Reviewer: Garett

February 17, 2011