ACID BATH — Paegan Terrorism Tactics (review)

ACID BATH — Paegan Terrorism Tactics album cover

Album · 1996 · Sludge Metal

4.5/5 · 2024-04-28
siLLy puPPy

It occurred to me as i was revisiting ACID BATH’s lauded 90s masterworks recently that this Louisiana band that latched onto the sludge metal scene (but was so much more), REALLY was equivalent to a musical funhouse of everything scrumptious and endearing about what 90s hard rock and metal scenes had to offer. While this band that was founded in Houma in 1991 only lasted a mere six years before the death of bassist Audie Pitre which caused the band to break up, ACID BATH has attained a legendary status as one of those bands that did it all right but was pretty much ignored during its heyday. PAEGAN TERRORISM TACTICS emerged two years after the band’s eclectic 90s mishmash of styles “When The Kite String Pops” and continues the potpourri of influences from hardcore punk, alternative metal, grunge, stoner metal as well as bluesy southern rock as well as a few sprinklings of thrash and death metal to be heard.

Also following in the footsteps of the debut, ACID BATH displayed the artwork of yet another controversial figure, this time Dr. Jack Kevorkian who was tagged Dr Death for his assistance of over 130 patients to commit suicide. The clever artwork pretty much sums up the dark subject matter of lead singer and primary songwriter Dax Riggs and his fasciation with all things morbid, nihilistic, violent and manic. Once again ACID BATH delivered a second offering that was equivalent to a classic double album’s worth of material with 12 tracks adding up to just over 72 minutes but adopted the irritating 90s trend of adding wasted minutes of silence before a hidden outro, in this case nearly 17 minutes. So musically speaking that leaves a more digestible 57 minutes or so of musical morsels to devour. As with “Kite Strings,” PAEGAN TERRORISM TACTICS is like a roller coaster of everything 90s all existing on one wild ride of top notch sludgy alt metal with a nod to various 90s bands and genres.

The album is all over the map with the first two tracks, “Paegan Love Song” and “Bleed Me An Ocean” starting things off more as a mix of pure sludge metal mixed with the grooviness of the same style of bluesy alternative rock / metal brought to the masses by bands like Alice In Chains and Soundgarden. ACID BATH certainly be accused of musical monotony because after two sludge-fests comes the Alice In Chains inspired “Graveflower” and “Diäb Soulé” that offer some bluesy alternative metal slowed down a bit with Riggs’ signature soulful singing style but the beauty of Riggs’ style and ACID BATH in general is that they don’t stick to one style for too overly long and heavy sludge riffing and demonic growly vocals are never far away. While all the musicians deserves kudos for maintaining a consistency within the context of whatever style they’re tackling, drummer Jimmy Kyle stands out for his inventive drumming accompaniments which always keep the tracks from sounding like any 90s contemporaries.

After a short foray into the fastest track, the thrashy metal blitzkrieg of “Locust Spawning,” ACID BATH shifts gears once again with a trippy psychedelic poetic prose in the form of “Old Skin” which while brief, offers a bizarre intermission and ushers in the more Soundgarden influenced “New Death Sensation” and “Venus Blue” which slow it all down and offer those ridiculous catchy melodies that really make ACID BATH addictive upon a single exposure. But wait! There’s more in this funhouse. Oh hell yeah! “13 Fingers” returns to the “deathened bluesy alt metal with sludge metal dressing and followed by speed sludge ferocity of “New Corpse.” In fact this is the most hardcore punk-like track except with those demonic screams that Riggs belts out with ease. The closing “Dead Girl” is really just a 7 1/2 minute track padded with unwelcome silence and a short poetic prose that reprises the “Old Skin” dialogue. This track is akin to the unplugged phase of Alice In Chains with bluesy acoustic guitars offering Riggs’ soulful vocals to soar.

While everyone has their favorite of the two albums ACID BATH released ( i slightly prefer the debut), there’s no doubt that this neglected band of its era released two powerhouses of 90s hard rock / metal that have managed to surface in the modern era as the excellence that they are. Unfortunately this was the end of the road for ACID BATH due to the fact bassist Audie Pitre was killed by a drunk driver. While the band easily could’ve carried on given that Riggs was the primarily player, for whatever reason this band couldn’t fathom losing a brother and in his honor retired never knowing if the band’s two albums would ever catch on to a wider audience or not. Luckily for everyone involved, both albums indeed have received a belated classic status and deservingly so. While many could easily view ACID BATH’s albums as inconsistent, what makes them so damn brilliant is that despite the many styles on board, these guys perfectly nailed everything they touched. There is no bad track on here. None. Quite an achievement and despite all the easily identifiable influences, Riggs’ dark subject matter kept the band from reaching the mainstream despite the catchy tunes that could’ve taken them far. Second masterpiece for ACID BATH and sadly the last but at least they made their short time really count.