Acid Bath’s UK debut is one of the hottest shows of the year, in more ways than one. Add to this the mighty Conan and Green Lung, and you have an absolutely scorching bill on an absolutely scorching day. It’s roasting inside and outside of the venue, and it promises to be an extremely sweaty night, but a brilliant one too.
Conan
Conan are so disgustingly heavy you can feel the bass rumbling in your chest. Their sound is the sound of tectonic plates grinding together. It’s the sort of crushing doom that levels mountains, and the band’s performance is on point. Their heaviness is a tangible thing; Conan’s music is forcefully colossal. It demands you move, and many people do. They get a strong reaction from the crowd, and many circle pits. Playing songs old and new, it looks like Conan have made a decent amount of new friends tonight.
A great way to start the night. Conan rule.
Green Lung
Now for a far more melodic form of doom rock from some masters of the style. Green Lung are definitely a huge draw in their own right, and the crowd is as enthusiastic as you’d expect for their arrival.
The hits come thick and fast, and gigantic hooks are thrown out like nobody’s business. You could pick almost any song they air, but a cut like The Forest Church is hard to bet against. They play some new songs off the upcoming new record Necropolitan too; hits in the making, one could say.
Green Lung are consummate live professionals at this point, and deliver a set that doesn’t fail to entertain. The band are clearly enjoying themselves, and it’s infectious. Green Lung show a sweat-soaked Academy 1 a good time.
Acid Bath
For many in the audience, Acid Bath reforming and touring is a dream come true. It’s hard to overstate their importance to those that discovered and fell for their multifaceted metallic cocktail back in the 90s, and yet against all the odds their influence and importance has only grown over the decades. This is reflected in tonight’s audience, which sees a wide range of people attending, ready to worship at Acid Bath’s idiosyncratic altar.
A tape of Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath heralds Acid Bath’s arrival, working the crowd up into a near frenzy of expectation. It’s hard to believe it’s actually happening, but it is. When the band finally take to the stage, it’s to a hero’s welcome.
They open with Tranquilized and the place goes insane. Bleed Me an Ocean follows, and it’s difficult to imagine excitement levels escalating further, but they continue to elevate as the set progresses.
It may be ludicrously hot, but singer Dax Riggs is as cool as a cucumber, all shades and effortless attitude. His vocals are excellent throughout. Tonight Acid Bath focus on playing material where the vocals are mostly or entirely cleanly sung, but when he does scream, he clearly still has it. He’s ably backed by the piercing screams of Sammy Duet too. Throughout the show large parts of the crowd sing along as if their lives depend on it, especially during songs like Venus Blue, which is as anthemic as it comes.
Pared down to just Dax and guitarist Mike Sanchez, The Bones of Baby Dolls is initially an acoustic affair. Surprisingly intimate, despite being anything of the sort with the number of people packed in here, the rest of the band eventually join back in, providing a heavier ending. Acid Bath aren’t afraid to play with their material it seems. This also applies to Dead Girl, which gets played tonight as the heavier Agents of Oblivion version, rather than the acoustic original.
A colossal, fantastic rendition of The Morticians Flame precedes a brief respite, (a tape of Old Skin), before the audience is treated to the beautifully haunting New Death Sensation. This starts once more as Dax accompanied by Mike on acoustic guitar, before it’s fleshed out to its full majesty by the other band members. Once again, as with The Bones of Baby Dolls, it gets a heavier finale.
Then, a simple “Thanks for inviting us” are the first words said by Dax this evening. There’s something very understated about this just before the band launch into the utterly spellbinding Graveflower.
Paegan Love Song then picks up the pace, until it descends into the bowels of abyssal doom. Wow. Acid Bath finish their show with The Blue, and it’s just too much. After all, there’s only so much excellence the venue can handle. Truth be told, if Acid Bath had chosen to play another 30 minutes, an hour, or every last song they own, they couldn’t have played enough.
It’s been a long time coming, but Acid Bath have finally played the UK. If you were there, you probably know how special it truly was.
Wonderbox Metal 