Death Metal

(October 30, 2015; FIREBIRD, Saint Louis MO)

So, I had a couple of things that I needed to take care of in the city before heading to the Firebird for a night of metal mayhem. Problem was, those things had to be taken care of before five PM; that meant that I was at the club a little after five, which is usually a good thing… it gives me time to check in with the headliners to ensure that their publicist or manager or whoever got all of my information to them and I was good to go to review the show. However, on this day, the headliners (Acid King) were still two hours away, a flat tire having slowed them down. All of this meant that I had time to kill, so I asked someone from the club if there was a decent place to eat in the area, preferably within walking distance; he pointed down the street and told me there was a barbecue place about four blocks away called Pappy’s. All I can say is, “Bless you, my child, for sending me to the best barbecue joint that I’ve been to in a couple of years.” Returning to the Firebird, there was still no sign of Acid King. I was eventually joined by a few other folks who were there to see their son/brother/nephew/cousin, who played drums in one of the bands; when they asked who I was there to see, I told them I really didn’t know anything about the opening acts and I was really looking forward to the mighty Acid King. “Oh, that’s who my son plays with. We’re going to find somewhere to have a belt or two… if Joey gets here before we get back, tell him that it was his aunt’s idea to go get blasted.” Osbourne’s mother would later tell me that this is the first time she’s seen him onstage since he joined the band.

I relayed the message, which Joey Osbourne thought was hilarious… “Yep. That sounds like Mom. They’re all lushes.” I did have time to get a couple of shots of the family reunion before the first band, a local five piece called Melursus (which, apparently, is named after a Sri Lankan sloth bear). Their set was short, as they only had the four songs available here in their repertoire. Those four songs were highlighted by some fairly inventive guitar work from both Dalton Moore and Lauren Gornik and the exceptional bass playing of Chris Barr, who – like most bassists who call Saint Louis home – managed to be funky and melodic while maintaining the inherent heaviness dictated by the band’s doom-laden metal. Drummer Kyle Deckert seemed to do more with less, driving the ship with a steady, forceful hand (and foot) that occasionally steered the music into more of a thrash arena. Even though Chuck Scones’ vocals tended to be buried in the mix (at least, at the front of the stage), what managed to get through sounded a whole lot better than what ended up on the URSA MINOR EP. If super-heavy melodicism is your thing, Melursus is definitely a band worth checking out.

Throughout Melursus’ set, I was aware of an intense, burly mountain man wandering around the venue; to my surprise (and eventual delight), this bull of an individual turned out to be a gentleman named Sid Liberty, a guitar player turned drummer from Columbia, Missouri who is now doing time in a trio called Lich. Sid turned out to be even more of a madman once the music started, pounding his head as hard as he attacked his kit; more than once, we locked eyes, as he tried to bore a hole into my soul with his Charles Manson, wild-eyed glare. Liberty set his kit up facing the other two members of the group because, as he explained, he hadn’t been playing drums too long and it was easier for him to follow if he could see what Ben and Colin were doing. Ben (or, more accurately, Ben, the Bass God) is the type of player that could give Terry (Geezer) Butler a run for his money, with a deep, almost gutteral style that virtually screams “doom.” Colin Apache is the mastermind behind Lich, his concept including a complex, layered back story that he hopes to one day turn into a comic book to offer at future shows; he is also a master of Iommi-like riffage, occasionally mirroring what Ben plays for an even heavier sound. Colin and Ben added their voices to the metal melee. Like Melursus before them, Lich played a very short set, running about a half hour and, though their tunes are fully realized, even at this early stage, they are merely titled with Roman numerals (I-IV, with another loose jam tacked on to extend their set). As much as I liked Melursus, given what I heard and saw from Lich, these guys are the real deal and I certainly look forward to following their metamorphosis into an elite metal outfit, akin to riff-monsters like Sabbath and, of course, Acid King.

More than a few people have asked me to describe the music of Acid King. This is what I tell ’em: Acid King is like a heavier version of early, doom-laden Black Sabbath, except the guitar player and the singer are the same person and she isn’t a guy. This is the first time the three-piece has toured for nearly a decade, in support of their first album in ten years, MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, CENTER OF EVERYWHERE, and the Firebird show was my first live taste of the riff-mongering trio. The group has made a career out of playing long, plodding, occasionally droning pieces of improbably heavy, feedback-drenched music, punctuated with minimal vocals from guitarist/songwriter Lori S; their set on this Friday night was no different, with seven songs in about an hour, five of them from the new record. Mark Lamb’s sludgy, fuzzed-out bass work and Osbourne’s powerful, rapid-fire drumming offered a solid underpinning for Lori’s masterful riffing and fluid soloing.

I quickly realized that Acid King was the epitome of the indie, “DIY” outfit, as Lori plugged her phone into the sound system to deliver the intro music from MIDDLE OF NOWHERE… , before adding atmospheric drones from her guitar. Mark and Joey came crashing in as Lori’s sludge-fueled droning turned into the opening of “Red River,” a song that, like most Acid King tunes, was slow in developing into any noticeable groove or melody; while there was plenty to be amazed by, including a cool solo (or two), the tune flowed like molasses or – to be more accurate – blood from an opened vein coagulating as the life oozes down an arm. Like Sabbath’s highly underrated Bill Ward, Osbourne’s playing is deceptively complex, a fact that is driven home with his work on the evening’s third song, “Infinite Skies,” a number that, with its murky, muddy mix, would not have been out of place on the first Black Sabbath record. Kicking things up to what, I suppose, would be considered “mid-tempo,” the band launched into “Laser Headlights,” which added a bit of a Hawkwind vibe to the proceedings with another wicked solo from Lori.

It wasn’t until the fifth song of their set that we were offered a dose of older material with the beautiful bikers’ sludge of “2 Wheel Nation,” a favorite track from the band’s last album, 2005’s III. This was quickly followed by another paean to riders and their machines, “Electric Machine,” from the BUSSE WOODS album, before returning to MIDDLE OF NOWHERE… for one final dose of hyper-drive Hawkwindian science-fiction with “Coming Down From Outer Space.” As mentioned above, regarding Joey Osbourne, the sometimes ponderous pace of Acid King’s music can belie the true extent of Mark Lamb’s bass playing talents; the fact that he manages to shine through, even when his bass and Lori’s guitar seem to be one instrument, on the slower songs, is a testament to the man’s rhythmic acumen. As the final number ended with droning feedback, technology once more took over, with the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE… outro track played from Lori’s phone. After a short respite, the group returned for an encore of another song from III, “War of the Mind,” which is heavier than a sack of bricks. What a great way to end the night! I just hope it isn’t another nine years before they come back around.