Acid King

III (Small Stone)
by Brian Varney

Though it’s been six long years since the last full-length Acid King release, a few seconds of opener “2 Wheel Nation” will have you convinced that the layover never happened. Pick any song from III and it’d sound just as at home on any previous Acid King release.

To begin, there are only three instruments, but each player does as much as possible to fill the most aural space with his or her instrument, whether it’s Joey Osbourne’s busy-yet-still-seemingly-lethargic drumming, Guy Pinhas’ platelet-rumbling bass frequencies, or singer/guitarist Lori’s grumbling guitar tone, which at times seems capable of eating through sheet rock. Imagine the sounds coming from these instruments coinciding long enough for seven-ten minute “formations” (I won’t call them songs) and add oddly distorted, almost ethereal vocals over the top, and you’ve got the ideal accompaniment for your next red wine bender. If you’ve got some Quaaludes to go with the wine, all the better. If you don’t, well, Acid King’s music simulates the buzz quite nicely, or so I’m told.
(www.smallstone.com)