When you reach for an album by Acid Drinkers, Poland's answer to gung-ho thrash metal, you best be aware that you're in for something not quite of the norm. Spinning their records with any sort of musical naivety only gets you into trouble. This isn't a band that relies on run-of-the-mill rock rhythms, well-worn melodies, or straightforward song forms. Instead, these guys think of their music as one big melting pot, where predictable riffing is often traded for spontaneous musical insanity. So with that said, here comes the reissue of Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks, an album released in the early 90's that revels in pissing on any sort of perceived notion that metal is serious. The band certainly didn't find themselves in a sophomore slump; following up the previous year's Are You A Rebel? with just as much uncultivated and nonintellectual taste as ever. Do all the experiments work in the context of these fifteen songs? Certainly not, but Acid Drinkers pride themselves on pushing the envelope of any perceived musical barrier, come Hell or water high. They implement metal at its thrashiest, punk at its rawest, and rock at its hardest as their core foundations. Many metalheads will observe that this band seems a cross-pollination of Anthrax and Dead Kennedys, and their assumption is pretty much spot-on. The guitars squeal, the drums clank, the vocals are shall we say, less than perfect, and the songs barely get the chance to develop beyond four minutes (although, to the band's credit, two tracks almost hit the five minute mark). In the middle of all the chaos is an interesting take on Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water", including much of the song being taken at double-time and a spot where they "reinterpret" the song's signature guitar riff. One must remember, nothing is sacred to these Polish metalheads and in their eyes, it's the sincerest form of flattery. The biggest positive about Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks is that there's a slew of competent guitar work and even some nice shredding in spots, the overriding negative is the grating vocals and lack of melody in the tunes. Lyrically, don't try to dig for any deep meaning because most of what you'll find is juvenile, lowbrow, and meant to be as disposable as toilet paper. Big picture, some metal fans will find this extreme hybrid of noise and metal to be exciting and avant garde, others will deem it exhausting and nonsensical.
Track Listing
1. Are You A Rebel?
2. Too Many Cops
3. Acid Drinker
4. Smoke On The Water
5. Yahoo
6. Max - He Was Here Again
7. Ziomas
8. Traditional Birthday
9. Dirty Money, Dirty Tricks
10. Angry And Bloody
11. Street Rockin
12. W.G.F.S. Power
13. Don't Touch Me
14. Zorba
15. Flooded With Wine
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