Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics 2 LP 180 gram

Acid Bath’s second album further establishes the band’s unique Southern punk/sludge/goth metal hybrid, only with warmer, fuller production and a more melodic songwriting approach than on their debut. The songs here are stylistically all over the map, but bound together in part by frontman Dax Riggs’ powerful singing and dark lyrics (filled with references to death, graveyards, and bone dust.) The opener, “Paegan Love Song,” is an instantly catchy shout-along anthem that combines ’70s blues-rock elements with more modern metal drumming, while “Venus Blue is a straightforward slow rock song with a sad, soaring, guitar-heavy chorus that might have almost been radio ready if not for the graphic lyrics. “Diab Soule” is more in line with their debut, shifting between raging metal sections, melancholy melodic crooning and a heavy Southern/groove rock breakdown. The closer, “Dead Girl,” is an all-acoustic ballad that brings to mind Alice in Chains, but again, thanks to the lyrics, it is more d