Acid King albums may be few and far between, but they’ve had a consistent quality to them that has kept the band in the minds of fans of doom and stoner rock/metal. Founder Lori S. has really harnessed the power of the riff over the past three decades and often brought warmer, entrancing tonality alongside it. Album number five, Beyond Vision, finds Lori collaborating with a new crew of musicians and pushing out towards extended psychedelic, instrumental jams. This direction had been hinted at a little bit on 2015’s Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere, but it’s been fully explored here with songs that naturally flow into each other to form a cohesive whole. There are a few lulls across the forty-two-minute run, but the bulk of the material remains as entrancing and memorable as fans would expect from Acid King.
At the core of Beyond Vision’ssound is still the worship of the almighty riff, but you’ll notice rather quickly that there are now synthesizers and keyboards in the mix which is something new for Acid King. Black Cobra’s Jason Landrian and Bädr Vogu’s Bryce Shelton handle these contributions alongside their primary instruments, and this adds an extra layer of haze and ambiance to the heavier, fuzzier foundation that you’d expect from this group. There are some changes in the structure of the songwriting as well, with each one written to seamlessly flow into the next and an emphasis on extended instrumental passages that create a haunting, hypnotic atmosphere. Initially these might seem like pretty huge changes for Acid King, but once you’ve made your way through Beyond Vision a couple of times it becomes clear that the extended periods of instrumentation and additional layers of psychedelic melodies fit well with the rest of their discography and will still have you banging your head along to the material. In doing this Lori and company have found that perfect balance between heavy and melodic, letting that crunchier fuzz and weight break through on tracks like “Mind’s Eye” and “Color Trails” while allowing the softer elements to sprawl outwards on others. “Color Trails” in particular sounds immense, with Jason Willer’s drumming coming through in explosive fashion. “Electro Magnetic” is also worth mentioning, as its methodical pacing and dusty tone brings to mind Earth circa their Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light albums. A few moments seem like they meander and get stuck in a sparser loop for longer than they should, and it might be for that reason that Beyond Vision hasn’t stuck its claws in quite as much as III or Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere did just yet, but I’ve still found myself drawn back and discovering additional layers with each time through.
If you were expecting just as much of an emphasis on Lori’s softer, ethereal vocals that were present throughout Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere you may be a bit disappointed, as she only comes in when necessary and otherwise lets the instrumentation speak for itself. Around the ten-minute mark of the album (after “Mind’s Eye” really kicks into gear), the singing appears for the first time and flows in and out of the material after that point. While the performance is much sparser than before, it makes you pay attention to each appearance and Lori’s voice continues to fall somewhere between ethereal and gritty. There’s a very deliberate choice to where the singing is placed, and this makes for some truly powerful and haunting moments when it does.
Even though there are specific riffs and layers of atmosphere that will stick with listeners over time, it still feels like Acid King’s latest effort is a bit less immediate than its predecessors and will need some additional spins to fully appreciate. “Electro Magnetic” and a few other moments do drag slightly and dull some of the impact, but this material still has plenty of staying power and continues to prove why this band is one of the better respected in their space. Plus, I can appreciate the desire to try something a little different after three decades, and when it merges the sprawling hypnotic atmosphere of psychedelic rock with the fuzz and weight of doom, I’m all for it. Beyond Vision is available from Blues Funeral Recordings.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg