Kingcrimsonprog British Thrash Metal band Acid Reign started off their career with 1988’s brief but promising Moshkinstein EP. They followed it up one year later with their debut full-length studio album, The Fear.

They start the affair off with a brief joke intro, but it may surprise you given the silly artwork and the reputation the band have for comedic stage banter and eclectic cover-songs, that their own original material is relatively serious and straight forward.

The music contained herein is very much a continuation of the Haunting The Chapel meets Spreading The Disease heads-down but charismatic thrash formula established on the initial EP. More songs in the same style. Its fast, its riffy, its got plenty of lead guitar workouts, and shouted vocals that you’d expect more from a crossover band (I mean, its not like they don’t have a bit of crossover in them musically). Its quite consistent throughout, focused, and doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Highlights include the memorable ‘Humanoia’ with its mosh-section, and the varied ‘Blind Aggression’ as well as the slower album closer ‘Lost In Solitude’ where the drums really get a workout.

The only drawbacks are that some of the songs go on a bit too much without fully justifying the extra length, and that the production is a bit tinny and thin compared to some of their American counterparts. (Picture if Sacred Reich’s debut Ignorance had a drum sound more like Napalm Death’s Scum).

Overall; It may not be up there with the likes of Peace Sells, Reign In Blood or Master Of Puppets, but it’s a solid album and worth checking out if you just can’t get enough Thrash.

Kingcrimsonprog Moshkinstein is the debut EP/Mini-Album from British Thrash Metal band Acid Reign. It was released in 1988. If you want to pick up a copy nowadays, the band have helpfully reissued it, along with all their albums and almost every track they ever recorded on an anthology boxset.

The artwork and lyrics remind me of Anthrax with their nonsense Thrash can be fun too beliefs, but not into parody territory like Lawnmower Deth. The music however is competent, serious, well-meaning ‘80s Thrash, with quick drums, buzzy guitars, and ok solos. The songs mostly tend to run to the 5-6 minute mark and do mix up tempos. They have a strange mixture of a punk feel due to the poor production and a technical feel due to the choppy song structures. The vocals are reminiscent of D.R.I or the shorter novelty Nuclear Assault songs in their shouty almost Hardcore flavour (I’d recommend this band to fans of either of those artists).

Highlights include the pounding opener ‘Godess’ and the Norman Bates themed ‘Motherly Love.’

Compared to other British Thrash bands of the era, they aren’t as Venom-influenced as Onslaught, nor as Bay Area copyist as Xentrix. Acid Reign, while not being the most unique band in the world, do manage to carve out their own niche.

This isn’t a band you’ll just discover and love for any other reason, but if you are a massive Thrash fan, Acid Reign are a band worth investigating, and this mini-album is a good start.

Kingcrimsonprog UK thrashers Acid Reign aren’t the biggest band or the most cult-classic band in their scene. But after you get past Onlaught, Xentrix and Sabbat they are one of the first names that come to mind. They perhaps best known for their initial EP and debut album Moshkinstein and The Fear. Their initial run also featured some singles and compilations, but the most substantial thing for Thrash fans to check out after the two aforementioned releases would be their 1990 sophomore studio album, Obnoxious.

This pink-covered record is very much a continuation and refinement of the style established on the debut. It is no radical departure, bold evolution, or ‘90s Groove experiment. The songs are mostly on the longer side; but not necessarily progressive, like a lot of 1988-1992 Thrash had become (bar one or two songs). This is just heads down, straight ahead, no-nonsense Thrash through and through.

Well, I say no-nonsense, more like almost-no nonsense. The final track; the ironically titled “This Is Serious,” is a joke track, which is actual nonsense (but on purpose).

This isn’t the sort of album to pick up if you are brand new to Metal or even Thrash, but if you just can’t get enough and want to explore more. The bass tone on the album reminds me of Anthrax, the vocals remind me a bit of D.R.I and the guitar reminds me a tiny bit like a slower version of Hirax. It’s a nice combination. The song writing isn’t breath-taking and won’t knock the likes of Forbidden Evil or Fabulous Disaster from the top stops in my favourite Thrash albums, but it is solid and professional.

Highlights include “Thoughtful Sleep” which has a nice acoustic guitar intro with electric lead, as well as the more direct “My Open Mind” and the dynamic opener “Creative Restraint.”

Overall; not earth-shattering but it’s a solidly produced and performed effort of decent material that is well worth your time if you’re into this sort of thing.

Vim Fuego Have you ever judged something and got it completely wrong? I have.

You know, made a big mistake, like Ford taking a bath on the ugly, awful Edsel, or like NASA losing a Mars lander because of a confusion between metric and Imperial measurements. Fortunately the mistake I made was a bit less costly. But first, let’s get back to music.

Most thrash fans know the story of Acid Reign reasonably well. The band had a brief, bright career in the late 80s, but called it quits in the early 90s when thrash fell out of favour. They stayed an underground cult favourite, with regular calls for them to reform, which finally happened in 2015. The reconstituted band was received enthusiastically, so tested the waters with a couple of singles, and in 2019, finally recorded their comeback album “The Age of Entitlement”. Vocalist H also decided it was time to gather up the band’s hard to find back catalogue, and put it all together in one four-disc anthology called, unsurprisingly enough, “Anthology 1987-2017”.

During their early career, Acid Reign recorded handful of demos and singles, the wonderfully titled EP “Moshkinstein” and the albums “The Fear” and “Obnoxious”. Each has it’s own dedicated disc in this compilation. It’s hardly worth reviewing each release individually, because there are perfectly fine reviews of all of these. Instead, a general impression of what the band sounded like is probably more important. Probably the most distinctive element of Acid Reign’s sound was and is the choppy, loose rhythm guitar smashing out riff after riff, giving the band a warm, organic feel at a time when other bands were looking for accurate, tight but ultimately cold and dry sounds. Over this, H wailed and shouted to his heart’s content. Not the most technically able singer in metal, H never let limited ability get in the way of enthusiasm and ambitious ideas.

All the albums, demos, and singles here have been given a studio make-over, sharpening up blunt edges, and shining dull surfaces. Each major release comes with added extras to flesh out the disc. “Moshkinstein” comes with the independently released cassette demo of the same title, a couple of tracks from the “Humanoia” single, and some extras from “The Least Worst of Acid Reign” compilation, originally recorded during the “Moshkinstein” session. This means there are three versions of “Goddess”, and two of the Norman Bates internal monologue track “Motherly Love”. This might seem like overkill, but the completeness of the collection is more important on this occasion. “Magic Roundabout” is a suitably mad cover of the kid’s TV show theme tune. “The Argument” is a discussion between H and guitarist Kev, accidentally recorded at rehearsal but kept for posterity. “Sabbath Medley” is exactly what it says on the tin. “The Fear” disc also features four tracks demoed before the release of the album, along with the track “Humanioa” from the single of the same name. The remastered album sounds better than ever.

Remember that misjudgement I was rambling about at the beginning of the review? Yeah, well here it is. Disc three features “Obnoxious”. I think I once said “very badly done”, “poorly executed”, and “a band committing musical suicide” in reference to this shocking pink clad album. Yeah, well I was wrong. Three decades after it’s initial release, re-listening to this revamped version of “Obnoxious” shows it to be ambitious, contemplative, thought-provoking, and ahead of it’s time. This is a certifiable reconditioned classic. There’s no demos with this disc, but there are the tracks from the “Hangin’ on the Telephone” single, which includes the wonderfully chaotic live cover of Bad News’ “Warriors of Genghis Khan” and a live version of “Motherly Love”. “The Joke’s on Us” and “Three Year War” were basically the swansong of Acid Reign’s career. The songs were recorded for their label Under One Flag, who apparently didn’t like them, so the band split up. Shortly after, they appeared on “The Worst of Acid Reign”. On Under One Flag. Go figure... “Big White Teeth”, “Zzur”, and “Zzur Mix” are just a bit of harmless fucking about. “A Mother’s Love” features H on vocals with Italian blackened thrash band Satanika. The band is well worth checking out.

The fourth disc in this compilation tidies up the final loose ends, with the last few old demos, and then into the new stuff. “Plan of the Damned” was the first new Acid Reign material in 24 years, and it almost seemed like the band hadn’t been away, followed a couple of years later by “the Man Who Became Himself”, demos of the two, and it’s all rounded off with a cover of “Goddess” by up-and-coming Northampton band Cerebral Scar.

Chances are if you’re an Acid Reign fan like me, chances are you have gaps in your collection, or you have these releases in a number of different formats. Here it all is together in one place, neatly underlining the first part of the band’s career, and preparing listeners for the next chapter. Long may Acid Reign.

Vim Fuego Acid Reign is one of those bands most thrash fans seem to have a bit of a soft spot for, and it’s not hard to see why. Five Yorkshire lads with no pretensions whatsoever, just playing the music they loved, and hit on a unique formula which brought them to the notice of the British metal media, and the wider metal world.

“Moshkinstein” was Acid Reign’s debut EP, a re-recording of much of their 1987 demo of the same name. As a debut, it showed this band was capable of producing some incredible music. First track “Goddess” is a serious thrasher. Immediately, it showed Acid Reign had an unusual sound. There always seemed like there was something slightly loose in there, rattling away in the bottom end of their music. The band’s big rhythm guitar sound was chunky, with an almost New York crossover thrash edge to it.

Second track “Suspended Sentence” showed the band understood melody and dynamics. The song chugs along quite comfortably, only occasionally bursting into full on thrash. The almost seven minute song perfectly showcases singer H’s incredible lyricism. Few other bands at the time wrote songs of such depth, intelligence, and introspection. H could be an amazing vocalist at times, but frustratingly, he also seemed a bit slap-dash and rough around the edges too. Sure, this was a band which was reasonably young, and were possibly trying to be spontaneous. Yes, there’s spontaneous, but there’s also having another go until you get it fuckin’ right! Never mind, the songs shine through.

Another highlight is “Motherly Love”. The song is genuinely creepy. The intro is a sample from the film Psycho II, with Norman Bates’ dead mother living on in her son’s diseased mind (“People say that I’m insane, Mother says I’m not”). Once again, H’s vocals wander around what seems like the correct notes, but this is a contemplative exploration of a schizophrenic persona, neither condemning nor glorifying.

“Respect The Dead” is a reminder that we’re all going to end up underground one day. What we do with our time before then is up to us, but do the dead automatically deserve respect? “Chaos (Lambs to the Slaughter)” examines terrorist bombings. Despite being written in the late 80s, it’s still sadly relevant today (“Sole existence is to waste/Waste life on command of others/Leaders lead by religion/Leaders blinded by power”).

This is quite a long release for an EP, clocking in at over 30 minutes, but it doesn’t seem to be overly long. Acid Reign’s two full length albums suffered from trying to pack in too much, and both lost focus. “Moshkinstein” stays focused, and does not outstay it’s welcome.