I can’t say that I have heard an entire album from ACID KING . The couple mp3’s I heard a while back were pretty groovin’. What sets this apart from a lot of the stoner doom sludge out there is the female vocals, THE MELVINS vibe and the songwriting is slightly above par (for this type of music anyways). This CD contains their first “10” EP and full length together.

After the first four songs of the EP end there is a noticeable difference in quality when the tracks from “Zorocaster” begin. “Evil Satan” really gets the juices flowing with a full-on 8 minute jam. Flanged out/ distorted bass, thick sludgy guitars, backwards cymbals and a bad ass anthem-like chorus set this song on top. “If I Burn” has then bassist (like THE MELVINS and NEBULA with a revolving lineup of bassists) Peter Lucas stepping up vocally noticeably better than his performances on the EP tracks. Most of tunes here contain some psychedelia to go along with heavy riffage. “Dry Run” and “Fruit Cup” seg with that force of flow.

It’s too bad the guitar solos, when they actually appear, sound like they are being played by a beginner. I would imagine this not to be the case anymore with the amount of time that has gone by since this was recorded in ’95. There are times when this disc starts to get tedious and then I begin to begrudge the sludge. However, Acid King do manage to pull itself out of those ruts fast enough before I manage to hit the stop button or fall asleep. This, in and of itself, is a miracle. I’m sure the more recent output on Small Stone is beyond this and I’ll bet live they are pretty intense.

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE: www.acidking.com

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