Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats ‘Wasteland’ Review: UK psych oddballs channel 21st century angst with melody and retro doom groove on dystopian concept album.
England’s most eccentric fuzz merchants Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats return with Wasteland, their first album since 2015’s The Night Creeper (out October 12th on Rise Above Records).
And they do so with a new rhythm section (bassist Justin Smith and drummer Jon Rice) and renewed purpose–while the band retain their eccentric take on classic 60s psych and early metal, with lyrics that reflect our perilous present.
Band frontman and mastermind Kevin Starrs’ said as much in the band’s press release, stating
The album is set in a land where people live in walled cities, under heavy surveillance, cut off and in fear of one another…In the underworld, there are program discs for the brain that can replace stolen thoughts and allow people to finally think for themselves…The general idea seemed quite fitting with all the propaganda and misinformation that we’ve been bombarded with in recent years.
Musically, Starrs’ had another goal: There’s not enough melody or harmony in new music for my liking. I wanted to go even further with all of that this time, and really force it down people’s throats! It’s important to me that someone keeps it going, especially in heavy music.
As such, Wasteland is a dystopian concept album that’s as lyrically compelling as it is riddled with hooks, kicking off with I See Through You, which sounds like an AM radio transmission from an alternate dimension with sandblasted sonics and Starrs’ otherworldly vocals taking on the role of an awakened populace.
No Return’s bottom-heavy Sabbath riff builds up layers of dread, topped with funereal organ, the aural equivalent of the Grim Reaper dragging a soul kicking and screaming into the void before collapsing into a sonic collage of soundbites and whirring electronic tones.
Blood Runner shows a whole new side of the band with an Iron Maiden’ish dual harmony riff and frantic rhythm that never relents, and topped off with an epic, wailing guitar solo.
The album’s first single Stranger Tonight is another high energy rocker, driven with MC5/Stooges intensity and lyrics that bleeds paranoia and disconnect: I took out my pistol/And run from everyone…our brains are empty shells, because there’s no more room in hell…
The title track changes course, an atmospheric lush ballad drenched in Mellotron and strummed acoustics that adds gravitas to Starrs’ post-apocalyptic odyssey, but its calming nature is fleeting, eventually shifting into shoegaze worthy distortion and vocal wails.
The album winds down in fine style with Bedouin, a stoner anthem punctuated by seasick keyboards and bass heavy groove, followed by Exodus, an ethereal garage rocker that ends on a musically ambivalent note, topped off with clattering drums and wind sound effects.
Wasteland is another high-watermark from Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, and feels remarkably prescient despite its retro production. If we’re indeed in the midst of societal collapse from over-dependence on technology and inability to discern fact from fiction, perhaps Starr’s helium croon and the group’s unholy sound can wake us from our smart phone stupor.
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