Album Review: Acid Witch - Stoned

Detroit's Acid Witch came hacking their way into our collective conscious with their debut album 'Witchtanic Hellucinations', a blend of death-ridden doom and cosmic psych rock all wrapped up in a gruesome, cartoonish and startlingly eye-catching cover that leapt out at record store browsers. Now, a couple of years later, though sadly delayed (for some) from a Halloween release, they have a new album, 'Stoned', for us to ogle. Judging from the blinding packaging it promises more of the same but, at the end of the day, will that be enough?

Well, it's easy to spot the band's main selling point with the brazenly comedic vocal growl of Hooded Menace's Lasse Pyykkö doing the same here for Acid Witch that Cannibal Corpse's Chris Barnes provided for Six Feet Under. It's big enough to flatten a house and when combined with slothful headbang-worthy chugs and several nifty guitar licks, that'll see you suddenly humming in the bath whilst frantically searching for the source, you have quite the fun-fuelled, drug-addled package to contend with.

'Satanic Faith' provides the shlock horror set-up with creaky old church organ and dramatic B-movie dialogue leading us down to the fuzzed-up Fu Manchu-esque stoner groove of 'Witchfynder Finder' and gnarled, repeater crust of 'Thundering Hooves'. By the time, you come across the sparkling dread of 'Whispers In The Dark', and its maniacal sound effect-strewn play on mental lunacy, all but the strongest souls, will be gripping their teddy close to their chests and casting furtive, backward glances.

Tracks like the black metal brood of 'Trick Or Treat' or the barbaric, hook-laden romp of 'If Hell Exists' impose the band's guile and personality upon you, but others are coated in a kind of ambiguous, self-absorbing gloop. The slack delivery of 'Stoned To The Grave', for instance, and the crazily-titled cheese-muncher 'Metal Movie Marijuana Meltdown' tend to meander into the background with little to make you sit up and pay attention. It seems the unwashed and unholy murk that Acid Witch peddle is enjoyable to a point, but lacks staying power. What it needs is an extra dimension and, god forbid, a hint of clarity to resuscitate it back to life.

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