
Review: Acid Reign - Obnoxious
Acid Reign

Label: Under One Flag
Year released: 1991
Duration: 47:07
Tracks: 8
Genre: Thrash Metal

Rating: 1.75/5

Review online: October 11, 2004
Reviewed by: 4th Horseman
Readers Rating

Rated 3.25/5 (65%) (16 Votes)

You know when they say "90's Thrash" and ear wax automatically starts to develop in your ears? Well it is because of stuff like this that was coming out of the scene at the time. During the 80's, the German bands focused on super-speed riffs and EVIL!! The Bay Area bands played stuff designed to get the listener head-banging and pumped up! The Canadians slowed down a bit and played a more technical and groove oriented form of thrash metal. Acid Reign on the other hand, decided that instead of following in the footsteps of their own great full-length debut, they should try something so stupid that it will make them stand out from the rest.

First of all, they made a pink cover for a metal album. They might as well have put a Barbie logo on it and a sticker that says "comes with free tampon inside!!!" But anyway…they played some extremely long songs. I am talking about 10 minutes in length of the same uninspired nonsense dragging on and on. Their last outing had similar song structures but at least they knew what they were doing that time around and the songs weren't so utterly boring. And then they throw in some lyrics, about some guy struggling with life and all. They sing these 'meaningful' lyrics on top of music that sounds like it is a poor attempt at getting the crowd in a fun and moshing type of environment. It sounds so disjointed and you start getting the feeling that after the band finished recording, the producer secretly or accidentally mixed vocals from another album on top of this one. As if that was not enough, Acid Reign throw in some orchestra, symphony and other unusual instruments. And don't even get me started about the tempo changes. Unless there were external forces at play here, Acid Reign's "Obnoxious" is a prime example of what self-inflicted musical suicide means. The band never recovered from this. It is a pity, because they did have a great demo and debut.

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