Verses of Steel

Poland’s Acid Drinkers formed in 1986, releasing albums prolifically in the nineties. ‘Verses of Steel’ is the group’s thirteenth full-length and it is somewhat surprising that the name does not ring more bells with metalheads.

Although the band started life as a crossover thrash band, they have steadily evolved throughout the years. ‘Verses of Steel’ is an eclectic mix of modern metal with thrash, punk, groove and even a touch of stoner thrown into the brew. Tracks like ‘Red Shining Fur’ and ‘The Rust That I Feed’ are heavily down-tuned, ‘In a Black Sail Wrapped’ has its grind moments and the closer ‘Blues Beatdown’ is unsurprisingly bluesy.

Variation is a key facet on this release and there appears to be something for everyone. However, the problem with this is that fans of some sounds may dislike others. The varied pace sometimes fails to unite the album as a whole coherent piece but at least it is not predictable. This is a release worth checking out but it feels like Acid Drinkers should perhaps stop trying to tick quite so many boxes.

Originally written for www.soundshock.net

Poland’s Acid Drinkers started life as a band in 1986 and released their debut album Are You a Rebel? In 1990. Starting off as crossover thrash with a strong punk influence the band has been steadily releasing albums since that debut and Verses of Steel is the bands 13th studio album and was released earlier this year.

Verses of Steel is more modern groove thrash than anything resembling your favourite DRI or Cryptic Slaughter albums but having said that, it is still quite an enjoyable album. The music for the most part sounds like a mix of latter day Kreator with a heavier reliance on grooves and way more variations in tempo. Album opener Fuel of My Soul starts things off in impressive fashion with a marked German influence before a percussion heavy break in the middle of the song shows that these Poles are anything but predictable.

In fact, Verses of Steel turns out to be quite an unpredictable album. Sure, the bands songwriting stems from the 80s euro-thrash scene and some elements of hardcore but they are constantly changing things around on the album. There are bits here that sound like Sepultura circa Chaos AD and there’s rock n roll, classic heavy metal and the kind of groovy thrash riffs that you’d find on a Machine Head album. Little bit of something for everybody then. What makes Verses of Steel enjoyable is that most of the songs work in spite of the different influences.

Stand out tracks include In a Black Sail Wrapped with its Chaos AD like chorus, Swallow the Needle which sounds like the groove thrash of Sweden’s Facedown and the slowed down bluesy rock n roll of album closer Blues Beatdown.

The core of the band, bassist/vocalist Titus, drummer Slimak and guitarist Spider have been together since the debut and it shows as the band sounds tight and solid. The only thing that prevents me from giving this a full on recommendation is that the album is a bit too long. At just over fifty minutes, the band could have easily cut a few songs from the album as Meltdown of Sanctity and The Rust I Feed are both pretty boring and succeed in slowing down the momentum of the album.

All in all, I have to say that Verses of Steel is a fun album for fans of the modern thrash groove sound and they are a bit more interesting than your average band.

Originally written for http://www.kvltsite.com