Acme: ...to reduce the choir to one soloist

The invasion of sludge continues. First came Eyehategod and spawned forth the entire Southern suicidal crossover scene. Now the influence has spread all over the world and we get bands like Acme joining in. The reason why sludgecore became such a success was due to bands like Saint Vitus and The Obsessed who were going down this path back in the eighties. The idea was to combine the psychedelics of Black Sabbath and destructive energy of American hardcore like Black Flag. Came the 90's and with death metal and grindcore looking out to marry into adjacent musical territories, it was just a natural progression for bands to start playing slower.

But as it always happens, eventually, someone breaks out big. Korn, even though they weren't sludgecore purists per se, managed to score a major contract. It was followed by the massive radio play, etc, which of course catapulted this form of music to mainstream acceptance. Hundreds of soulless clones began churning out similar albums with a speed that rivals the rate of growth in the number of Metallica clones back in the eighties. Thus we are presented with Acme and such.

Acme are rather proficient at what they are attempting to do. They have mastered the art of playing those "chugga-chugga" chords to the point where they become nothing short of a razor blade stuck deep in your wrist. Vocalist never stops screaming out vile lyrics over the open E chord and drums follow him in a dirge like pace accentuated by a skillful double-bass technique. In other words, all the usual stuff that can be found on any other sludge recording. Boring, but a sure shot for their label, because this stuff will always find its way into the listener's pockets.

Beautiful cover art, good presentation, skillful band… but where is the identity of their own? How many times to we have to remind ourselves that cloning has killed in the past and will for sure bring down anything and everything in its way? Do we really need to go back to the horror of the Seattle invasion or pop-punk plague that we have seemingly gotten rid of? Acme can surely find a style of their own. All it takes is to stop thinking about the profits and begin doing something that no one else has tried before. Otherwise - who will be left standing when the market saturates?

Added: January 1st 2004
Reviewer: SoT Archives
Score:
Hits: 5201
Language: english

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