Acid Rain Dance

I know little about this bizarre German punk/metal band other than that they were fucking excellent. They released two great records and then disappeared forever. I am not sure what happened to any of the members afterwards. The music they left behind is a unique and aggressive balance of crust, rock, thrash and speed metal (with some slight death metal elements). Imagine Amebix crossed with Die Kreuzen and Motorhead, slapped with some Entombed on top. Not a bad combination.

The four songs on this seven-inch (from 1991) are brimming with creativity, angularity and chaos. The riffs are crunchy and violent, with some Voivod-esque dissonance appearing on several occasions (e.g., the wobbly riff in the first half of "Schreiende Leiber"). There are some excellent melodic solos, some of which have a bluesy feel. There are also some clean (undistorted) sections that remind me of Metallica. The vocals sit somewhere between barked and growled, sometimes similar to Lemmy, sometimes closer to death metal. The bass is prominent and bouncy, with some occasional twangs into the foreground.

The production is great. The band trekked to Sweden to record this at the mighty Studio Sunlight (with Tomas Skogsberg). This explains why Entombed are acknowledged in the liner notes. The two bands evidently connected with each other when this was recorded. I am tempted to think of Nicke Andersson hearing this band and being influenced by them. Perhaps it helped him visualise how metal, rock and punk could be integrated differently. I have no evidence for such a claim, of course, but it is fun to speculate.

This record is a treasure. I would recommend it to fans of chaotic crossover, crust and Voivod. I'd also recommend it to people who like old school progressive Swedish death metal (i.e., bands like Afflicted and Carbonized), and fans of aggressive, angular hardcore (e.g., Rorschach). As it transpired, Acid Rain Dance went one step further with their “Melting Resistance" EP a couple of years later, which was even better. Both records are essential.