Psychedelic doom rockers Uncle Acid & the deadbeats are trapped in a time warp. Coincidentally it’s the very same time warp that I’ve been stranded in for years. To wit, the benighted second half of 1969, when the dark stars of Altamont and the Manson Family killings converged to send the Age of Aquarius into permanent retrograde. I can’t speak for Uncle Acid, but there’s no place I’d rather be.
Sure, it’s a bummer. The dogs of insanity have been loosed. Paranoia is the new dope. Every freak I know is either a Satanist or trying to trade in his flower-painted VW bus for a tank. And you can forget all that he ain’t heavy, he’s your brother hoo-ha. Take that hippie over there, the one with the crazy hair and hypnotic stare. He looks very heavy indeed, and he is most certainly not your brother. That said I’m glad Uncle Acid and the deadbeats are here, because nobody, and I mean nobody, better captures the pall of fear and loathing that has settled, like a cloud of pure dread, over us all.
Cambridge, England’s Uncle Acid & the deadbeats have released three full-lengths of skull-crushing, evil-infused psychedelic doom metal—using vintage equipment to more accurately evoke the buzz-harshing vibe of the Summer of Hate—since their formation in 2009. They sound like Black Sabbath, The Stooges, and Pentagram rolled into a joint, then laced with angel dust. Go ahead, smoke it. Sure, it’ll make you a tad paranoid. But as Charlie himself said, “Total paranoia is just total awareness.” And in the year 1969, total awareness just might save your life.
