SilentScream213 One of the most eclectic Metal albums of its time, and certainly not something I expected from the Sludge Metal genre. About half the songs are true Sludge Metal, and even those are rife with other influences, namely Stoner and Avant-Garde Metal. Then there’s a bunch of straight Stoner Metal, some Acoustic Rock, Folky stuff… At times it really sounds like if First Utterance was a Metal album.

The music itself is pretty straightforward, it’s just combined in ways that make it less conventional. The lyrics on the other hand, are absolutely nonsensical and bizarre. The overall package is most certainly a decent representation of a mentally ill psycho going through drug addled hallucinations.

At over an hour long, the variety definitely helps differentiate the songs and retain interest. The album does a good job of switching between speedier, aggressive material and slower or gentler songs, keeping the pacing even. Unfortunately, while surprisingly consistent for the variety and length, it doesn’t have many great songs. Most of them are good with a few standouts like “Cassie Eats Cockroaches” and “Scream of the Butterfly,” but there’s nothing here I care to return to in the future.

Warthur Boasting Jon Wayne Gacy cover art and an incredibly appropriately dirty and sludgy production, Acid Bath's debut album offers up crushingly heavy sludge metal whose subject matter, as you might guess from the cover, combines the jocular with the morbid. (Dr. Seuss Is Dead is outright terrifying.) Dax Riggs' vocals can take the strangest subject matter and make it sound deadly serious, especially in the context of the doleful sonic territory explored by lead guitarists Sammy Duet and Mike Sanchez. At points it's almost psychedelic, a bad trip into dark territory. As far as the 1990s pioneers of sludge metal go, Acid Bath certainly don't deserve to be overlooked.

UMUR "When the Kite String Pops" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Louisiana based metal act Acid Bath. The album was released through Rotten Records in August 1993 and rather controversially features cover artwork painted by Illinois serial killer John Wayne Gacy, while he was in prison waiting to be executed for his crimes. Acid Bath was a relatively shortlived act who was active between 1991 and 1997 and released two studio albums in that time. The band broke up as a consequence of the death of bassist Audie Pitre, who was killed in a car accident involving a drunk driver.

Stylistically the music on "When the Kite String Pops" is really hard to describe in a suiting manner, because you´ll find everything from stoner rock/metal, sludge metal, hard rock, alternative rock/metal, thrash (even a few death) metal leanings, doom metal, punk/hardcore, and other stylistic elements thrown together to form a very original sounding music style. The eclectic songwriting approach is not completely unlike what you´ll hear on a System of a Down album, but that´s how far the comparison goes.

The music is dark, filthy, raw, and at times ultra heavy (check out the sludgy doom metal riffing on "Dr. Seuss Is Dead"), featuring both clean and distorted raw vocals. Dax Riggs is an incredibly skilled vocalist and his sedated "Layne Staley meets Jim Morrison" type clean vocals and aggressive screaming ditto are delivered with fierce passion and conviction. The band are exceptionally well playing, especially considering that "When the Kite String Pops" is a debut album, and they really manage to make the listener feel their anger, frustration and sadness through their playing and through the adventurous songwriting.

Another asset on "When the Kite String Pops" is the well sounding, hard hittin´ and raw sound production, which brings out the right dark and powerful emotions in the music. The album is 69:10 minutes long and features 14 tracks, and while such a long playing time isn´t always a success, this is one of the exceptions to that rule, as it´s an entertaining and ever changing album throughout the playing time. Overall it´s just a really intriguing and unique sounding release and it´s nearly a mandatory listen for the open minded metal listener. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

thellama73 A disturbing and thrilling slice of southern sludge metal, Acid Bath's debut has really got a sound all its own. As the cover painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy might suggest, this is pretty dark even by metal's standards. The guitars are low and totally fuzzed out, and the production is somewhat flat, making me feel like it was recorded in a dank hole in the ground somewhere.

The vocals alternate between clean and dirty, with the clean vocals being chillingly drugged out and emotionless. The songs are very strong on the whole. "The Blue" is about as catchy as you can expect music of this kind to get, and weak moments are few and far between (I don't like Cheap Vodka that much, but that's about it.)

Sadly, the band only had one more album before breaking up. It's a shame, because they really work well as a group and I bet they could have produced a lot more great metal given the chance.

When the Kite String Pops is a perfect album for when you're in a nasty mood.