Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats: The Night Creeper Album Review!
Music Review:
Firstly, let me just say, if you haven’t heard Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats before, this album, The Night Creeper will officially floor you. You’ll gasp for breath as the fuzzy guitar chords hit you like a galloping black stallion. Track 1, Waiting for Blood sounds like someone has handed you a long forgotten or never discovered heavy rock LP from the late ’60s or the early ’70s and turned it up full volume before you’ve had a chance to find out what the fuck is going on!!! The vocals are a harmony mutation of Ozzy (incidentally the band supported Black Sabbath in 2013) and Mercury Rev! That damn good!!!! If you like stoner rock, doom metal, ’70s rock, horror vibes or simply a sludging good hurling noise, Uncle Acid‘s The Night Creeper is the one!!!!
There’s something to be said about a band who, like stoner band, Sleep, on their album, Dopesmoker, have created a certain sound which is hard to capture unless you use certain instruments and have a certain mind set. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats had dropped a handful of albums prior (Mind Control is recommended because it’s a brilliant concept tale of a cult leader) but none so grinding as The Night Creeper. The album sleeve is so British (the band are from Cambridge, UK) with it’s morose traditional ‘Bobby on the Beat’ in black and red, but then the inner pages read visually like a Dead Kennedy‘s booklet. Snippets and photographs depicting X Rated shows, 3D Glasses, Devil Horns, Benny Hill… it’s so much to take in one go!!!
Lyrically, The Night Creeper is a stroll through Soho or 42nd Street in the good old days. The opening words grab you: “There’s a man who’s just been waiting here all night long, As he watches you he’s smiling there all alone, He needs something better but he knows you’re on your own!” It’s sheer menace, it’s a slow burning emotional ride. By the time you’re on track 4, Pusher Man, with it’s gorgeous vocals and backing melodic harmonies, the album totally has you in its world. Is it the “aaaahhhhs” which slur out of the music at certain points? Is it the heavy duty riffs and slamming drum patterns which almost swallow up the fragile lead voice as lyrics such as “I’m a pusher man, I’ll give her what I can… she will never learn, but that’s alright…” which paint a traumatic story and this story formulates throughout. The Night Creeper has a long coat, a baggy wide tie, a filthy shirt and a trilby hat. The album dresses this way as the darkness falls and it walks the streets and alleys looking for… someone… to… look at…
Yellow Moon kind of sits in the dead centre and is an interlude. A beautiful quietly laden instrumental and then Melody Lane arrives, and it’s back to the black sludge and filth. “I staggered on my way home past leering eyes and taunting voices, as blood drips from my flesh wound I knew my thoughts would scream in terror…”
Kevin Starrs is the man, and on this album he performs vocals, lead guitars, bass, and organs. He simply knows how to fuse together a mind fuck of an LP. Behind this wall of noise is Yotam and Itamar Rubinger — backing guitars and drums respectively. If there’s a downside, the title track goes a more upbeat direction in its sound (not in its lyrics) which sounds very out of place and kind of undoes the remains of the album (though Inside, with its White Stripes funky sound tries very hard). However, the last two tracks slow down and kind of lets you pause and take a steady breath. Black Motorcade is so stripped bare it’s like an acoustic unplugged session. It all ends with a chilly rain falling on a pavement somewhere in the night…
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats are said to be an absolutely amazing spectacle live and are promising new material very soon. In the meanwhile, check out this obscenely retro video for Melody Lane…
Album Info:
Band: Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
Album: The Night Creeper
Members: Kevin Starrs (vocals, Lead Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Organ) Yotam Rubinger (Guitars) Itamar Rubinger (Drums)
Year: 2015
Country: UK
Recorded: Toe Rag Studios, London & The Overlook, Elstree
Produced by: Kevin Starrs
Cover Art: Jay Shaw/ Kevin Starrs
Mastering: Noel Summerville
Runtime: 51.15
Label: Rise Above Records
Official Website: facebook.com/UncleAcid
Track Listing:
1. Waiting for Blood
2. Murder Nights
3. Downtown
4. Pusher Man
5. Yellow Moon
6. Melody Lane
7. The Night Creeper
8. Inside
9. Slow Death
10. Black Motorcade
