ALBUM REVIEW: Beyond Vision – Acid King
Rubbing the dust from their sleepy eyes, after a long eight year slumber in the deep, trippy, psychedelic void, the San Francisco stoner doom legends ACID KING have awoken once again. They have brought with them a fantastical exploration into interplanetary migration alongside a deep contemplation of the forever winding path of existence. Whilst still carrying the hallmarks of an ACID KING record, Beyond Vision is unlike anything the band have done before. With powerful dirges augmented by interweaving psychedelic melodies, this is ACID KING through a kaleidoscopic lens. Celestial sonic supernovas burst in vivid technicolour, conjuring up an interstellar cinemascope in your imagination as you float through space.
After parting ways with several musicians that she had played alongside on the band’s 2015 Middle Of Nowhere, Center Of Everywhere album and the Busse Woods 20th Anniversary tour in 2019, Lori S. (guitar/vocals) didn’t waste a moment on contemplating her next move. She had been eyeing up a collaboration with Jason Landrian (guitars) of BLACK COBRA fame, and over the 2020-2022 pandemic lockdowns the pair got their opportunity; both songwriters worked hard on their collaboration and Beyond Vision is the spectacular result. With the band completed by Bryce Shelton (bass and synthesizers) and Jason Willer (drums), the album showcases a mysterious, ethereal and psychedelic side to ACID KING that you’ve never heard before.
Three factors stand out immediately with this album; one is that for the first time the band have used synthesisers on a studio release, there is also a second guitarist for the first time, and it was recorded to a two-inch tape. With this newly expanded sound alongside the analogue warmth that recording to tape brings, ACID KING take full advantage of this opportunity to explore, experiment and create with these new tools available to them. In doing so, they’ve dialled down their celebrated fuzz and introduced more psychedelic sounding effects to their guitars. These, layered with Shelton’s synthesisers, create an all consuming soundscape that has a hypnotic and meditative effect on you. Lori S.’s vocals take on a celestial tone on this album, especially on 90 Seconds, with the lyrical concepts of interplanetary migration and the path of existence there is also room for a deep contemplation in between the luscious psychedelic folds of the album.
With the concept in mind, musically ACID KING do incredibly well to capture an array of emotions within the slow, solemn melodies as well as the thunderous riffs. One scene that develops in your head is that of endless, graceless floating in space, as if time has stood still and you have an eternity to contemplate anything and everything about your existence. On the other side of that coin is a sonic adventure to planets on the fringes of galaxies, looking for a new opportunity to exist somewhere else. As each song seamlessly blends into the next, these two concepts seem to overlap and separate within Beyond Vision’s natural ebb and flow. This enchanting cinemascope spills over into reality long after the album is finished and you’re left either spaced out or in deep contemplation.
The synth swells and guitar feedback drones that open the album as part of One Light Second Away certainly aren’t the traditional ACID KING introduction. However, the instrumental song builds up gradually layer by layer, expanding and evolving, it sets the tone for this spaced out album. Mind’s Eye is where we see the trademark ACID KING elements being added to the mix. A flanged, fuzzy riff initially echoes under a floating guitar lead, before it erupts into a thunderous riff and it is here you really begin to feel the analogue warmth of the tape recording as the overdrive burst with colour.
90 Seconds is the most experimental song on the album, utilising elements of sound design to create eerie sounds that bounce from ear to ear underneath slow, bulky riffs. It blends perfectly into Electro Magnetic, which carries on this formula but on a grander scale. Offering up eight minutes of spacious and trippy soundscapes, this song epitomises the new look ACID KING on this album. Title track Beyond Vision is introduced by a short track called Destination Psych. The former feels more traditionally ACID KING, driven by an old school doom riff, but Lori S.’s vocals echo into the void while flashes of guitar melody weave themselves around the main riff. This has a mesmeric and swirling effect on your mind as the song goes into instrumental closer Color Trails.
Beyond Vision is one of those albums that is hard to sum up in a singular way. ACID KING have done an incredible job of interweaving this new psych element of their sound with what makes them great and it has worked brilliantly. As a result, this is truly an album for escaping reality, whether it’s to reflect, contemplate or simply space out.
Rating: 9/10
Beyond Vision is set for release on March 24th via Blues Funeral Recordings.
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