Review Summary: Perhaps their most fully-fledged album concept yet, but with no major deviations sonically.
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats seem to change their lyrical and aesthetic theme with every album, with little change to their sound. The change from “Blood Lust” to “Mind Control” was big in terms of concept shift but the band kept the key components of their sound, only tweaking elements of it to suit the new concept but still producing many memorable and interesting moments. Contrastingly, their last release- “The Night Creeper”- was disappointingly stagnant sonically: lacking in memorable hooks save for “Melody Lane” and the sound did not adapt at all to match the shift in concept. “Wasteland” could be considered a return to form: there are subtle changes to their sound and more melodically interesting moments than on “The Night Creeper”, although not quite as many as on “Blood Lust” and “Mind Control”.
The lyrical imagery used throughout “Wasteland” evokes both the barren plains found in post-apocalyptic fiction such as Mad Max, as well as dystopian 1984-esque cities under constant surveillance. According to frontman Kevin Starrs, the album tells the story of totalitarian cities where people are brainwashed with propaganda, and there are discs available in the underworld allowing people to regain their thoughts and escape to the surrounding desolate wastelands, where they are free but must struggle for survival.
This is not the first Uncle Acid album to have a clear aesthetic and lyrical theme to it: “Blood Lust” was based on an idea Starrs had for a horror movie and evoked occultism, rituals and sacrificial killing, whereas “Mind Control” had more of a Charles Manson, desert-cult vibe, and “The Night Creeper” was about a serial killer in a sleazy, downtown area. However, “Wasteland” seems to have a clearer, more linear story and comes together as a concept album more than any of their previous releases.
Other than having a more obvious story than previous concept albums, this album doesn’t have any major changes from older material. The hazy, distorted vocals, vintage early heavy metal guitar tone and occasional 60s organ, all remain cornerstones of the band’s sound.
Those hoping to hear plenty of memorable vocal lines and harmonies- such as those used in “Mind Crawler” from “Mind Control” and “Cut You Down” from “Blood Lust”- may be disappointed as these seem to be somewhat lacking on this album- the only notable uses being on “I See Through You” and “Stranger Tonight”. Similarly, those hungry for some more up-tempo (for Uncle Acid at least), catchy melodic guitar riffs as used on older tracks such as “Poison Apple” and “Over And Over Again”, may be left unsatisfied. However, there are still more of these moments than on “The Night Creeper” and there are also some melodic and climactic guitar solos on this release- notably on “Blood Runner” and “Stranger Tonight”.
“Stranger Tonight” is one of the highlights of the album and features some subtle use of a celeste reminiscent of
The Stooges’ “Penetration”, which adds colour to the band’s signature sound, despite being somewhat buried in the mix. The opening track “I See Through You” is another asset, possessing a memorable riff reminiscent of the
Rob Zombie song “Red Red Kroovy” (interesting considering that “Red Red Kroovy” is based on A Clockwork Orange, another dystopia).
The title track “Wasteland” repeats Uncle Acid’s tendency to have one song per album featuring acoustic guitar, which has worked varyingly well on previous releases: Down To The Fire fitted well with the 60s/70s occult horror vibe on “Blood Lust”- adding a folk-horror element, “Follow The Leader” fitted the desert-cult concept of “Mind Control”, whereas “Black Motorcade” on “The Night Creeper” wasn’t particularly memorable and the acoustic guitar didn’t suit the album concept of a sleazy downtown serial-killer quite as well as it suited the other album concepts. Here, the acoustic guitar on “Wasteland” provides a fitting post-apocalyptic campfire atmosphere which compliments the lyrics and weary tone of the song.
Some might also appreciate Uncle Acid’s return to using samples from old movies on this album. This was used on “Blood Lust” during the intro to “I’ll Cut You Down” and is also used to great effect by the band at their live shows as an opener (theme music from the Hammer cult classic ‘The Devil Rides Out’). Samples appear to be absent on their previous two releases, but on this album, samples of speech from old movies are used effectively to add atmosphere and set the scene at the beginning of “I See Through You” and the end of “No Return”.
The ending of “No Return” is one of the more eerie and atmospheric moments on the album as it features a meandering deep organ sound. This is layered over their usual 60s organ sustained in the background, interlaced with speech samples from old movies, and then fades out to the distant tolling of a bell. This transitions nicely into the siren sound at the beginning of “Blood Runner”, a track which picks up the pace from the slower “No Return”.
Other minor deviations from the typical Uncle Acid sound include “Bedouin”, which features a horn- an interesting addition to the sound which compliments the vocal and organ melodies. “Exodus” offers some spacey synth sounds not unlike a toned-down version of the synths on “Who Are You?” by
Black Sabbath. At the end of this track the guitar trails off ominously as organ sounds overlap one another along with marching militaristic drums- culminating in a surprisingly unnerving ending to the album.
This album is unlikely to change your opinion of the band but if you’re already partial to their macabre 60s/70s counterculture-infused psych-doom, then you will likely find this album an enjoyable listen, and a noticeable improvement in variety and pacing from their last album.
