US doom metal giants ACID KING announce more shows for their upcoming European summer tour + North and South American shows!

San Francisco-based psychedelic doom legends ACID KING have confirmed to play Europe extensively this summer, as well as live shows in the United States, Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Their new album "Beyond Vision" is available now on Blues Funeral Recordings.

Released this March as part of Blues Funeral Recordings' special PostWax series, ACID KING's new album "Beyond Vision" sees the band venturing into an epic sci-fi-inspired journey — the result of a special collaboration between Acid King founder, guitarist and vocalist Lori S., guitarist and vocalist Jason Landrian (Black Cobra), bassist and keyboardist Bryce Shelton (Hawkwind) and drummer Jason Willer (Charger, Jello Biafra) — described as "a largely instrumental mushroom cloud of sound and hallucination" by Decibel Magazine and "an otherworldly journey" by PopMatters.

Breaking a new record in the international heavy scene by reaching #96 on the Billboard Hot 100, ACID KING is now ready to take over both the old and new continents to share their thundering, swinging and trip-inducing heavy psychedelia with the masses.

The band announced special sets in San Francisco and Southern California and will perform "Beyond Vision" in its entirety with guitarist and vocalist Jason Landrian as a special guest. All other shows will be performed as a three-piece with a lineup of Lori S. on guitar and vocals, Bryce Shelton on bass and Jason Willer on drums.

ACID KING ON TOUR — Tickets on sale at this location

June 3 - San Francisco, CA (USA) Great American Music Hall**
July 21 - Pioneertown, CA (USA) Pappys & Harriets
July 22 - Los Angeles, CA (USA) Lodge Room**
Aug 3 - Karlsruhe (DE) P8
Aug 4 - Innsbruck (AT) Poolbar Festival
Aug 5 - Munich (DE) Free & Easy
Aug 6 - Milano (IT) Circolo Magnolia
Aug 7 - Martigny (CH) Sunset Bar & Daily Grill
Aug 8 - Paris (FR) Glazart
Aug 10 - Moledo (PT) Sonic Blast Festival
Aug 11 - Kortrijk (BE) Alcatraz Festival
Aug 12 - Marienthal (DE) Hoflärm Open Air
Aug 13 - Hamburg (DE) Knust
Aug 14 - Copenhagen (DK) Stengade
Aug 16 - Berlin (DE) Cassiopeia
Aug 17 - Dresden (DE) Chemiefabrik
Aug 18 - Regensburg (DE) Alte Mälzerei
Aug 19 - Döbriach (AT) Sauzipf Rocks
Aug 20 - Vienna (AT) Viper Room
Aug 22 - Luzern (CH) Sedel
Aug 24 - Eindhoven (NL) Effenaar
Aug 25 - Wörrstadt (DE) NOAF
Sept 7 - Santiago de Chile (CL) Club RBX
Sept 8 - Buenos Aires (AR) Uniclub
Sept 10 - Sao Paolo (BRA) Setembro Negro Festival
Sept 23 - Austin, TX (USA) Ripplefest Texas
Nov 3 - Portland, OR (USA) Mississippi Studios
Nov 4 - Seattle, WA (USA) Substation
** Beyond Vision played in full w/ special guest Jason Landrian


New album "Beyond Vision"
Out now on Blues Funeral Recordings
Available on Blues Funeral website - Bandcamp - EU store

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the details.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Acid King - Beyond Vision (Album Review)

Release Date: March 24th 2023. Record Label: Blues Funeral Recordings. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Beyond Vision:Tracklisting

1.One Light Second Away

2.Mind's Eye

3.90 Seconds

4.Electro Magnetic

5.Destination Psych

6.Beyond Vision 

7.Color Trails

Members

Lori S. - guitars and vocals 

Jason Landrian - guitars

Bryce Shelton - bass and synthesizers

Jason Willer - drums

Review

Beyond Vision will perhaps be the “comeback album” of 2023. As it sees Doom/Stoner Metal Legends Acid King return in spectacular fashion with their first album in eight years since 2015’s Middle Of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere. Lori S returns with a completely new line-up here and it’s changed the dynamic style of Acid King’s DNA and overall sound. This album is completely different from what has come before it but ultimately remains an Acid King record which contains their classic sound.

The album is powered by Spaced Out and Ambient Driven Psychedelic Sounds that have a modern Doom/Stoner Metal presence around them. This album feels like a real team effort with Lori S, Jason Landrian, Bryce Shelton and Jason Willer bringing their own unique creative talents to the album especially with the Trippy and Psychedelic moments heard throughout the album.

Opening song One Light Second Away is an Instrumental Song where Acid King fuses Psychedelic Soundscapes and classic Doom/Stoner Metal grooves that have a slight Progressive flair to them. The song is cautiously slow but once Acid King lays down the groundwork for their atmospheric vision, the whole album takes off in an unexpected way. You can hear traces of Post-Rock and Post-Doom vibes heard in the background. The haunting synth changes to a more confident rhythm when that classic ACID KING sound appears and fully takes over with bone-crunching guitars leading the charge.

Second song Mind’s Eye opens with another finely Ambient driven groove before a muscular DOOMED out guitar soon allows Lori S sublime vocals to make an appearance. The atmosphere can only be described as ELECTRIC when the classic Desert/Stoner Metal style of music appears but still being classed as SPACED OUT ROCK. The instrumental work is impressive with an array of heavy stylish guitars and adventurous Rhythm Section. The music can be quite FUZZY and even AMPLIFIER DISTORTION in places but everything builds up for an exciting SONIC based adventure. 

Third song 90 Seconds opts for a more stripped back approach with a FUZZY and SEEDY sound that allows Acid King to play a more BASS HEAVY and multi-layered sound. The band added different levels of REVERB and GUITAR Feedback before Lori S vocals takes a more commanding role. The lyrics and message of the song are WEEDIAN throughout but perhaps injected with that new found PSYCHEDELIA outlook the band have brought on board for this album. The music is impressive as ever with punishing guitars and down-tuned sounds interacting with the Ambient parts of the album.

Fourth song Electro Magnetic is the most daunting and boldest track on the album. As Acid King added Droned Out Atmospherics to this track. The song moves cautiously slowly to the next realm of Doomed/Droned Out blissfully heavy musical passages. Echoes of Acid King past appear when the song fully moves into gear. However, it’s the journey and not the destination that’s the most important part of this song. The heavy guitars and wonderfully cosmic synths allow Acid King to play a heavy Doom Metal style we haven’t seen since their early days and it’s gloriously exciting to hear.

The final three songs of Destination Psych, Beyond Vision and Color Trails sees Acid King venture further down the Cosmic/Space/Psych Rock vortex with the legendary Doom/Stoner Metal sound they helped to define and pioneer. The band even found time to create some new and truly landmark grooves to influence even more bands on this part of the album.

The final stages of the album marries up the CLASSIC ACID KING sound with their newfound COSMIC style they have adopted here especially on tracks such as Destination Psych and Beyond Vision. Heavy, Bold and Atmospheric yet again with moments of LUSH sounding Psychedelics with mind-expanding lyrics enticing listeners to fully get on board until the last few exciting moments pass by within the final song of Color Trails.

This album was influenced by Science Fiction and Science Fact which Acid King used to great advantage with the heavier SONIC and SPACED OUT parts of the album. Acid King are still showing today’s legion of modern day Doom/Stoner Metal bands how to write and play music that will inspire future generations such as bands that SLEEP, KYUSS and BLACK SABBATH already have. Of course Acid King have done this for the best part of thirty years with their previous albums and they continue that streak that I think is their best and most exciting album to date.

Beyond Vision is going to be one of the landmark and most definitive Stoner Metal albums of the year and no doubt will be in my Top 5 albums of the year. 

Words by Steve Howe.

Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo.

HEY is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Blues Funeral Recordings from March 24th 2023.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Stoner metal icons ACID KING announce new album "Beyond Vision" on Blues Funeral Recordings; first video now showing

ACID KING, the pioneering heavy rock band fronted by the inimitable Lori S., return with "Beyond Vision" this March 24th on Blues Funeral Recordings, an album that sees the iconic San Francisco-based band lean into psychedelia and the avant-garde. Watch the video for "Destination Psych/Beyond Vision" exclusively on Revolver Magazine!

The 7-song, 43-plus-minute collection was recorded to two-inch tape courtesy of Dead & Company at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, California. Acid King founder and guitarist/vocalist Lori S. worked hand in hand with Black Cobra guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian, with the pair sharing writing and production credits. The band is rounded out by Bryce Shelton (Nik Turner's Hawkwind) on bass and synthesizer, and Jason Willer (Charger, Jello Biafra) on drums.

Watch “Destination Psych/Beyond Vision” at this location

On the new direction, Lori explains: “The band was never really that psychedelic, but this is definitely more trippy because we’ve got keyboards and synthesizers. That’s something we’ve never had before on Acid King records. The songs really have no beginning or end — they all just flow into each other. It’s meant to be listened to as one piece. The whole point was to have the listener feel like they’re on a journey. If you put headphones on, it’ll take you to whatever places you’d like to go to.”
 
About the concept of "Beyond Vision", she adds: “The record is based on the journey of life. Jason [Landrian] and I were having these heavy pandemic conversations at the practice space for two years, talking about all the stuff you go through being in bands, touring, your relationships in life, all that stuff. You think this trip is supposed to go one way, but it goes in very different ways that you can never imagine.”
 
It's not just life on Earth she’s talking about. "Beyond Vision" contemplates life on Mars, life on the moon, and death in the furthest reaches of space. Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was a key influence. Then there was the mesmerizing 2019 documentary Apollo 11: “I was hugely inspired by that documentary. I absolutely love the soundtrack Matt Morton did for that. I’ve probably listened to it a million times. I really loved the journey it took me on, even without the movie. It just made me ponder life.”

Pre-orders for ACID KING's new album "Beyond Vision" are available now from Blues Funeral Recordings on a variety of limited edition vinyl and cassette formats, as well as CD and digital.
 

ACID KING "Beyond Vision"
Out March 24th on Blues Funeral Recordings
Preorder now on BFR website - Bandcamp - EU store
 

TRACKLIST:

1. One Light Second Away
2. Mind’s Eye
3. 90 Seconds
4. Electro Magnetic
5. Destination Psych
6. Beyond Vision
7. Color Trails

Adopting the nickname of notorious teenage slayer Ricky Kasso, Acid King came screaming out of San Francisco in 1993 with a sound that fused heavy ’70s proto-metal with the kind of bleary, slow-rolling dirge power being harnessed by their contemporaries in Sleep and Electric Wizard. The band’s 1993 debut 10” was followed two years later by their full-length debut Zoroaster. Acid King’s acclaimed 1999 album Busse Woods solidified their reputation amongst a generation of riff worshipers, and heavy rock enthusiasts. Acid King, founded by and helmed by vocalist/guitar player Lori S., have released four full-length studio albums: Zoroaster (1995), Busse Woods (1999), Acid King III (2005), and Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (2015), as well as a collection of EPs and split releases.

ACID KING links

Website⎮Facebook⎮Bandcamp⎮ Instagram

BLUES FUNERAL RECORDINGS links

Website⎮Facebook⎮Bandcamp⎮Instagram

Acid King - Live At Roadburn 2011 (Album Review)

Release Date: March 11th 2022. Record Label: Burning World Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Live At Roadburn 2011 - Tracklisting

Busse Wood

2 Wheel Nation

Silent Circle

On To Everafter

Coming Down From Outer Space

Electric Machine

Sunshine And Sorrow

Review

Legendary Doom/Stoner Metallers Acid King release their first ever live album - Live At Roadburn 2011 - where the band performed a legendary set at the infamous festival. It's hard to believe that for a band going nearly 30 years in the business that this is their first live album. Though, Acid King have never been the most prolific bands with only four studio full lengths released since 1993 and 2015's Middle Of Nowhere, Centre Of Everywhere being their last studio output.

This live album is a very raw and uncompromising live album which matches the actual Acid King sound live on stage which I experienced myself in 2013/14 on a UK Tour they embarked upon.

Live At Roadburn 2011 sees Lori S on terrific form and going through their classic hits such as Busse Wood, 2 Wheel Nation, Silent Circle, On To Everafter, Electric Machine and Sunshine And Sorrow. The album sees Acid King play a very tight, concise and fantastically heavy forty five minutes set with grizzled seedy guitars and Lori S putting in a classic and raw vocal performance.

The whole atmosphere and sound of the record feels like this was the actual recorded performance from that night in Holland. It's not the most professional of recordings and has a solitary DIY feeling from start to finish. However, this gives the live album it's main strengths as your focus will be on Acid King's performance and heavy distorted WEEDIAN grooves. 

The whole crowd in attendance that night were blown away by Acid King's performance and you can tell that from this Live Album by the rapturous reception the band received on nearly all of the songs. 

Acid King: Live At Roadburn 2011 ranks as one of the very best Live At Roadburn albums I've heard in quite some time and I'm grateful the folks at Roadburn Festival and Burning World Records for recording great gigs such as this. 

If you're a fan of Acid King then this is an essential purchase and be prepared to be steamrolled by the incredible performance held on this album. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Viral Propaganda PR for the promo. 

Acid King: Live At Roadburn 2011 will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Burning World Records from March 11th 2022 at all good stockists.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp