Celebrating 30 Years Of Acid Reign’s Obnoxious!
Celebrating a UK thrash classic!
Source // www.musicstack.com
Considering the UK invented heavy metal, it’s always frustrating to reflect on how ‘seemingly’ unsuccessful us Brits were at thrash metal. Predominantly an American phenomenon, UK thrash always seemed to be playing catch-up with our Transatlantic cousins when, in retrospect, British thrash bands had much to offer.
Acid Reign were one of those bands!
Known for embracing the sillier side of thrash (check out 1988 EP Moshkinstein & 1989 debut album, The Fear for a hefty dose of UK apple-core), Acid Reign actually reigned in the lunacy on their second full length Obnoxious and the result was an album that embraced a previously untapped progressive edge and proved, once and for all, that us Brits had what it took to step up to the next level.
Slowing down, slightly, frontman ‘H’ and co. adopted a more focused attitude on Obnoxious, imbuing their intricate riffs and biting lyrics with a keener eye for detail and the results were impressive to say the least.“Thoughtful Sleep” remains a highlight; a technical excursion into a story of child neglect which surprises with its schizophrenic time changes and multiple personalities. Intelligent, complex and highly original, in an ideal world this song alone would have elevated Acid Reign into the big leagues.
As it turned out, they were unjustly overlooked and imploded shortly after Obnoxious‘ release.
Fast forward nearly 25 years and a relatively recent reappraisal of Acid Reign’s contribution to thrash finally resulted in an eagerly awaited return (albeit without 4 of the members who penned Obnoxious) and the band released ‘The Apple Core Archives’ in 2014 – a box set retrospective that was an absolutely essential purchase for anyone with even a passing interest in thrash. Two brand new singles followed in the formidable shape of “Plan Of The Damned” (2015) and “The Man Who Became Himself” (2017) their first album in 29(!) years, The Age Of Entitlement, was an absolute triumph and fully cemented Acid Reign’s position at the top of the UK thrash pile!
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Obnoxious, Acid Reign have launched an anniversary tour t-shirt from back in the day – click the link below to pick one up for £19.90. There will be more things to come this week to celebrate The Pink Album ?
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