Uncle Acid Returns With Mind Control

When Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats set out to make a drug-drenched horrific sophomore album, they headed to a dilapidated barn. There, three members produced something as sensational as was it was sinister in Blood Lust, a solid second outing from a psychedelic doom metal band.

With the help of Metal Blade Records, the band has since devolved into "street creeps, burnouts and draft dodgers," making the music more mainstream and expected. They skipped the barn and headed into Chapel Studios to have the full benefit of electrical technology. And it all starts to make you wonder.

Uncle Acid adds another member to produce Mind Control. 

Although rumor has it that the third outing for Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats was big crime horror inspired, it doesn't always feel that way on Mind Control. Despite starting with the cult-cut imagery of brainwashers like Charles Manson and Jim Jones, the album is never scary or much of a novelty.

Many of the songs work, with Poison Apple kicking off the album a few months ago as a single. The track comes across as laid back and fuzzed out hippie music until the lyrics are deciphered from the vocals pushed down under the instruments. Poison Apple is a first person perspective of temptation.

The song is a seduction, with some heavy hooks and and mind-bending melody. The guitar work later wakes the composition up when the song needs it. But the only spooky moment is the chill inspired poetry whispered at the end of the garbage dump video put up by the band.



The whisper isn't on the album, but makes clear the other inspiration for the song. The lyrics are inspired by Manson, the whispered lines were uttered during an interview. His answer is said to imply he was a mind control slave. Uncle Acid isn't the first to allude to Monarch programming in music.

Although the album is a big change in direction, with less bite and more drone, it still has a story at the center of it. This time out, the grisly tale told by Uncle Acid is about a man who has murdered members of his cult and fled to find more weak-minded disciples. The story begins with the opener Mt. Abraxas.

The second half  is hard to reconcile after Blood Lust.

The downside is that the change in sound sends Uncle Acid further away from what caught everyone's attention last year and more toward the retro-metal acts that don't quite measure up to the few finest. In fact, the album becomes increasingly timid as it progresses. The mellow nature is meant to be mind numbing with Devil's Work closing the album on a note of lamenting awareness after some lulls.

Part of that lament for some listeners will be that the band drifted too far away from the hardness that made Blood Lust so powerful. Despite several decent tracks on top, Mind Control doesn't have the power or the energy to sustain itself as a standalone. The best bet is to stick with the opening tracks after Mt. Abraxas and cherry pick the album after Evil Love. Follow The Leader is a contender.

The only motivation to purchase the album would be to try on the band's intent. They wanted to create an atmosphere that recreates the half-aware head of a marionette. (Death Valley Blues isn't about the pop it plays like.) But mostly, it seems, the band would have been better off keeping any strings taut in action as opposed to trying to find the mindset.

Mind Control By Uncle Acid Whispers 4.1 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

Although not on the album, Under The Spell, is also a keeper. It appeared as the B-side to the single Poison Apple and best represents the sound that works best for Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats. As for the album, some of the drone has its moments but the band asks for too much to make it all work. Who knows? Maybe they felt the same way in the studio as everything was over-produced for a barn band.

You can find Mind Control by Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats on Amazon. You can also download the album from iTunes or order the vinyl from Barnes & Noble. Otherwise, if this serves as your introduction to the band, consider Blood Lust first. Or make plans to see them live.

Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats Bleed

To make their sophomore drug-drenched horrific full length, Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats did what any psychedelic doom metal band from Cambridge might do. They packed up their equipment and a few television sets in a dilapidated old barn and went to work. It was winter. It took four months.

Their intent was to make the musical equivalent of a 1960s exploitation horror film. The result, Blood Lust, feels more like the 1970s but the decade hardly matters. The lo-fi metal meanderings hit a tipping point that the band never expected.

Their first album, Vol. 1, was limited to a mere 30 pressings. So Uncle Acid (guitars, organ, vocals) pressed 100 copies of Blood Lust because he felt the songs were much stronger. The first day went fine, but then orders plummeted to a few copies a week.

Blood Lust becomes the gem that took some time to find. 

In July 2011, things took an unexpected bounce. The first run sold out. So did the second. And then the 350 vinyl pressing put out by Rise Above sold out in 24 hours. The album, originally released in 2011, has continued to grow in demand, enough so that Metal Blade Records helped it migrate to digital.

Ironically, the band hadn't played live in some time to promote the album. Other than Harsh Ray who played bass for three songs on the album, Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats are a hard-working trio, mostly confined to Uncle Acid, Kat on bass, and Red on drums. Without the additional benefit of a rhythm guitar player, the three feel any live performances lack power.

As to the mystery of their real names, it's not a gimmick as much as it's a statement. Uncle Acid said in an interview with a Polish/English review site that there isn't enough mystery to music anymore. They want to give it a chance to catch without anything else getting in the way.

That is not to say that the band isn't having fun with it. Stories have surfaced that hint at mind control, witchery, and drug-induced paranoia. Even Metal Blade's bio admits, "We are not able to shed much light on the identity of this drug-crazed coven of freaks but are addicted the their heavy, melodic, garage horror-rock sounds."



I'll Cut You Down is the lead track on the athematic story album, opening with the autobiographical sketch of the drug-crazed sadist the album is about. The anti-hero eventually cuts across the countryside hunting witches until he finally meets a similar fate at the hands of Satan. Ominous, but all in good storytelling fun.

"I was born a wicked man, no hopes or dreams ... I get my kicks from torturing and screams."

More than that, I'll Cut You Down tells another story too. Musically, the lo-fi saturation was produced by recording the entire album on an old 8-track. A few fuzz pedals and broken amps did the rest.


Ritual Knife plays much the same way, giving another glimpse inside the heart of the anti-hero who struggles with a Marquis de Sade complex. But what makes the story compelling is the dynamic internal conflict of the character. Sometimes it's difficult to differentiate barriers between love and lunatic lust, good and evil, or purpose and paranoia until the eighth track.

The ninth, Down To The Fire, is a standalone bonus track with beautifully rendered 1970s metal acoustic. It might even be my favorite from the album, even if the entire LP is worth the download. Not one of the tracks can be scrapped, which was also by design.

Uncle Acid and his cohorts set out to make an album that people wanted to listen to, front to back. As a throwback metal album with a lo-fi twist, Blood Lust is deserving. Maybe not deserving enough to capture some crazy eBay prices it did as a bootleg, but definitely deserving in supporting the band.

Blood Lust By Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats Rips 9.2 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

According to some interviews, Uncle Acid says they haven't received much love in their hometown when they started up. Other bands hated them and so did the crowds, people who would immediately walk out when they started to play because they didn't sound indie. But isn't that the point?

Indie doesn't have a sound, but Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats do. What they don't have are pictures. The placeholder above is a picture of Uncle Acid's mic inside the barn that they have since dubbed The Slaughter House. Blood Lust can be found on iTunes. You can also find the download on Amazon, which occasionally carries vinyl. The CD is available at Barnes & Noble.