Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats : " the Night Creeper"

My only real knowledge of this band going into this was that they came in one the heels of Ghost. So I had it my head they were going to be a more hippy take on occult rock rather than the dense and dirty desert rock that is being churned out here. While they are not reinventing the pentagram, their influences are more varied and blended into the thick fuzz that coats these songs. I would go as far as to say they are doom. There are several moments that musically remind me of Alice Cooper. The vocals are a layered tenor, that are more similar to Coopers more melodic moments, but if filtered through Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult.

Whlie not doom they take on "Murder Nights"  an eerier creep to their post- flower power hard rock this give a darker melodic sound that gives this song an edge over the opener. They continue to flirt with the shadowy side of the 60s on "Downtown". Much like more modern Ozzy the singer's voice is always coated in effects. "Pusher-Man" is not the Steppen-wolf song, though it would make perfect sense for them to cover that. It grooves with  heavier throb to it's pulse. In some of the singer's phrasing I can here some Lennon influence. They indulge in a more mellowed out instrumental interlude on "Yellow Moon".


I like the sinister groove to " Melody Lane" which is the first song that clicked with me within the first few chords. It is one of the first songs where I hear strong metal leanings.The title track has an ominous groove , but the vocals but not so much that I would call it doom. The techno color coat of pyschedlia floats around the heady heaviness, as the vocals cry out with an insane trembling mixing John Lennon with Ozzy. There is dark strut to "Inside" that sounds like Alice Cooper terrorizing the Beatles on Spahn Ranch with a head full of bad acid in them. They take and even darker yet more mellowed approach to the hazy pulse of "Slow Death".The album goes out on a more drug induced whimper with "Black Motorcade" that is almost more of an outro than an actual song. While the album got off to a strong start and impressed me it began to fizzle out toward the end. I'll give it a 7 and hope it grows on me because due to the song I dug I want to like this more so we shall see how it stands the test of time, but right now it feels like King Dude, already fills this dark spot on my iPod.

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