Acid Bath - When the Kite String Pops
I usually don't listen to albums this much over such short time periods, but I've been listening to this album probably at least once a day for the past few weeks, and "Scream of the Butterfly" often on repeat. If I had good memory I'd probably know every single song back to front by this point. I just can't stop listening to this album. It's like a sludge metal pop album, but with it's balls completely intact. Every song is unique, with its own personality, and brutal while being totally accessible.
The eclectic songwriting also keeps each song from running together with great moments that tell you exactly which song you're listening to, even if you're not really paying attention to the album itself. Songs like "Blue" and "Finger Paintings of the Insane" are pure sludge doom, "Tranquilized" is punk-as-**** sludge/stoner with energy that just pulls you along whether you like it or not, "Jezebel" and "Dr. Seuss Is Dead" combine sludge and death metal in a way that's almost death/doom at times, and "Screams of the Butterfly" is a horrifying yet beautiful ballad that could have ruled the airwaves if not for the band name and disturbingly explicit yet somehow ambiguous lyrics (also quite possibly the greatest metal ballad of all time). I mean, if Pantera was all over the radio at this time, then surely a band with so many of the same influences should have been a no-brainer for record execs looking to cash in on that band.
And Dax Riggs is hands down my fav sludge vocalist of all time. Misanthropic screams seamlessly transition to clean singing that are somehow even more ****ed up than the harsh screams. It's not usual for me to look into what a band's members have done since leaving, but I've started delving into Dax's later work with Agents of Oblivion, Deadboy & the Elephantmen, and his solo work, and while so far none of it hits me as hard as this album I'm coming to the conclusion that the man is a genius. Will be totally mining his back catalog for further awesomeness.
TL;DR - Acid Bath is ****ing the **** in all ways possible to be the ****, and I know without a doubt what my pick for top spot in the sludge/stoner battle of my Metal Album Survivor thread will be. If it gets voted off I'm gonna do my best to secretly fix the results. Seriously, you ****s better not **** with my dreams. Might even be one of, if not my top pick for the overall winner of the whole shebang. Don't know if I'd call it the best metal album of all time, but it's right up there with Bathory's
Hammerheart and Iron Maiden's
Powerslave for me. If I or someone else haven't already put this album in the 1001 Metal Albums thread then I'm gonna have to add it. Now.
Too bad there are like almost no Youtube vids of any song off this or a full album, so here's the Grooveshark link for anyone still ignorant. If Wpnfire hasn't heard it with his newfound love of stoner and sludge then he needs to listen to it. It'll change his life.
Grooveshark - Acid Bath: When the Kite String Pops