Uncle Acid and the deadbeats- Shapes of Midnight (Album Review)

Uncle Acid and the deadbeats made a significant impact in the doom and heavy metal world in the 2010’s, with their sophomore effort Blood Lust serving as an album that a lot of people point to as the one that caught their attention.  Falling somewhere between classic doom, proto metal, 60s psychedelic rock, and even some of the pop rock stylings of The Beatles, the band had a new take on an old sound that left an impression.  With each additional release Uncle Acid has experimented with new things, and their 2024 effort Nell'ora blu was a lengthy and ambitious undertaking.  With a more synth forward sound and guest voice actors, the group composed the soundtrack to a fictional Italian horror film and showcased a completely different side of their psychedelic and heavy metal framework.  But if that experimentation wasn’t quite your speed, this year’s Shapes of Midnight is more likely to click, as it returns to the guitar focused and riff forward approach of earlier albums while keeping some of the additional flourishes of more recent efforts.

It makes sense that after such a massive undertaking like Nell'ora blu, Uncle Acid would take a bit of a back to the basics approach for Shapes of Midnight.  But that doesn’t mean that that this album simply repeats what the group did in their earlier days, as it has a bit more NWOBHM and proto metal DNA while keeping some of the moodier synth work and atmosphere from the last album.  Where some of Uncle Acid’s discography toned down the poppier qualities, it feels like this one has found that perfect balance between huge, pop hooks and moodier, denser instrumentation.  Opener “House by the Grave” is a great example, as it has a crunchier doom/hard rock foundation but has some riffs that really grab you from the beginning, but towards the end the keyboards and guitars explode into a psychedelic freak-out that’s noticeably denser and chaotic.  The title track employs some similar effects, opening with a huge riff that has classic rock ‘n roll energy to it before transitioning over to some dual guitar work that has Wishbone Ash and Thin Lizzy vibes and layering some moody synth over top of that.  Even when a song seems like it’s going to fall into a more traditional verse/chorus structure and simplify the hooks, the group likes to throw curveballs at the listener that keeps things exciting and a bit less predictable.  You do get dips back into traditional doom on tracks like “When Evil Wakes”, but to my ears things skew a bit more heavy metal with both the galloping tempos and muscular tones.  “Don’t Let it Control You” has hints of glam to its keyboard work, while “Psycho on the Loose” even gives me some hints of Kiss at certain points, showcasing how diverse and far-reaching Uncle Acid’s melting pot of influences is.  The decision to use Abbey Road Studios and 60s/70s era recording tech gives the album a vintage yet not dated sound, and there are a lot of interesting details that pop with more time. 

K.R. Starrs has had a distinctive vocal approach from the very beginning, and while his pitch sometimes had some similarities to John Lennon which gave the band its “Evil Beatles” nickname, there are a lot of other nuances that give Uncle Acid their own flair.  Whether you agree with that comparison or not, there’s no denying that Starrs has quite a bit of charisma and the way his voice hovers over the recording instantly pulls you in.  The band has always drawn upon B-Movie and horror elements that made it sound like the vocals were telling you different tales of the macabre, and with Shapes of Midnight taking influence from Edgar Allen Poe’s The Masque Of The Red Death this storytelling approach is as effective as ever.  The pop elements come through with some of the vocal hooks, as there are just as many sections where specific verses will stick with you just as much as the powerful riffs or moodier melodies.  It can sometimes be hard for newer bands to have that same flair and instant appeal as rock singers from decades past, but Uncle Acid continues to capture that core appeal.

It would’ve been easy for the group to write guitar forward material that was in the same vein as Blood Lust or Mind Control and call it a day, but Shapes of Midnight feels like it recaptures the riff heavy focus of those albums while retaining the moodier synths and emphasis on atmosphere the band has explored in recent years.  This album has hook after hook, but there are plenty of psychedelic freakouts, unexpected transitions, and tense atmosphere that make things a bit more complex.  Based on my previous experience with Uncle Acid I went in expecting to like this one, but it’s quickly become one of my favorites in their discography and showcases that even this far into their career they still have plenty to offer.  Shapes of Midnight is available from Killer Candy Records.

-Review by Chris Dahlberg