ACID REIGN — Anthology 1987-2017 (review)

ACID REIGN — Anthology 1987-2017 album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 2019 · Thrash Metal

5/5 · 2020-04-17
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.