In our monthly series of artists we like reviewing records they love we can give you another really interesting one: Raum Kingdom’s Andrew Colohan wrote a highly interesting review on Acid Bath’s Paegan Terrorism Tactics for us. Interesting because this is a combination which makes so much sense when one thinks about it, and yet, due to the lack of popularity of Acid Bath in 2021 most people like wouldn’t see the connection! So here we are with Andrew’s thoughts on the album by one of Sludge’s most important groundbreakers.
(Too close to the horizon)
The very first sentence after a seemingly regular dark blues standard intro to a song from this record opens up with Dax “Dying felt so godamn good today”, this ultimately sums up your experience on your senses for this sonic journey. Why did dying feel so good? Why today? And why is it that the fact that he wrote the sentence, obviously he hasn’t … and why did the first few seconds of the opening track, with its peculiar production and mix just seem to be … off. With that, this is a record that is conciseness on a razor blade, too far left … too far right, it’s going to be a different ball game, but it goes off the scales in both. Beauty and ugly are from the same tree and to attempt what these five gentlemen achieved on this, is something to bow down too.
I’ll speak about this record in four parts, briefly and not track by track, not trying to explain in written form the audio description of breakdowns and all else that comes with that. As it’s the first band on our playlist for VoS, here it is.
The four parts will be:
Induction - Ego - Emotional spectrum - Conclusion
Induction
In 1994, the music scene was being dominated by nu metal and some of it is still now timeless and a lot not, in time. Acid Bath popped up, don’t forget East Coast Ireland is long way, ways (!), from NOLA. So Acid Bath appeared on the surface be too old school, too sporadic. When frequencies collided Acid Bath didn’t seem to fit the bill, didn’t fit the ‘times’, almost from an ancient past. When The Kite String Pops with its slick mix and awesome production. Still amazing to this day, it took time and given time, it stood out, more mature, more honest And most off all, it spoke a language, like a fine wine, like a tree growing in your back garden, over-growing everything else and standing tall. It eventually stood out, tall, covered you in shade, gave you oxygen…eventually…So Paegan Terrorism Tactics was released.
Ego
Words are powerful, especially when spoken aloud. Rotten was this beauty and that was it, when all the elements of this album spoke true, it spoke to ‘you’. Not a political voice/energy, not a romantic spell, not a hair band, not a masculine band, not a pop endeavour, no poser. Paegan did its darn best to gravitate to you as an individual, no ego, stripped right down to the core. This leaves you when fully enveloped by the record to be on that slug on the razor. Awake to it, aware to its, appreciative of it.
Emotional Spectrum
Extremes are always nice, aren’t they? Who wants to live in white all their life? Or black? So here is the dilemma, or not? When approached with something that can question the traditional, it conflicts, almost the self. Conditioned oneself can be by black or white, so this record pushes the boundaries by giving you a gift of all levels, which is an accomplishment in and of itself and yet somewhat feels like a collective. The level of which the frequencies of this record resonate with your soul. The baseline on the outlook can appear to be at a level, but on closer inspection, it’s multi-faceted and multi-dimensional.
Conclusion
All things worthwhile doing are not generally easy, anything with a steep learning curve always has a better pay off. Just like it clicks, it’s a record that keeps giving and giving. With Dax Rigg’s inter-cosmic lyrics, Sammy Pierres Duet’s lacerating guitar and support vocals, Mike Sanchez’ forlorn blues, Audie Pitre’s (RIP) doom frequencies, Jimmy Kyle’s upside-down percussion, all this leaves the listener being too close to the horizon. Hence this record has had a longer shelf life then nearly all the counterparts of the era.
We just want to say thank you and keep safe.
“Behind that wall of noise, is an infinite world of harmony”
Regards AC/RK
You can listen to Paegan Terrorism Tactics at the top of this page via the Spotify list. To find out, if there are some similarities between Acid Bath and Ireland’s Raum Kingdom, Andrew’s own band, you can listen to their last record Everything & Nothing here:</b>
