Acid Reign
Acid Reign are probably my favourite English thrash metal band from the late 80's and early 90's.I remember first reading about them in a copy of Metal Hammer, a rock magazine I used to buy every month. In it, was a review of their EP Moshkinstein, and they were described as one of the most exciting and promising young talents in the British thrash metal scene. Even now, listening to the Acid Reign songs from that EP, I feel a surge of energy buzz through me as I did when I first listened to them. Goddess, Motherly Love - classics!
Their next album, The Fear, was also a masterpiece, but unfortunately, they started to come under pressure from two sides. The record company wanted higher sales and the press started thinking of them as a joke band in the same vein as Lawnmower Deth. Nothing can be further from the truth. Acid Reign had a sense of humour certainly, and liked to have fun at their gigs, but the music was serious. Sure, H hadn't got the greatest voice in the world, but his lyrics were outstanding. Sure, the drummer was rotund, but boy could he play! Seeing them live was much different to seeing a band such as Xentrix. Where Xentrix were all head down and serious, Acid Reign had fun - Getting the audience to form huge moshing circles all moving in one direction around the hall, playing Bad News songs or a variety of other things. Some of the most memoral gigs I have ever been to were in the Milton Keynes Woughton centre watching Acid Reign.
With the release of Obnoxious, it was easy to tell that the record company had lost faith in them. Although some of the songs were good ones, the quality of recording was dissapointing, almost as though the company had not wanted to pay too much money. I still have my signed copy of Obnoxious though! The thrash metal market was only small and entirely dominated by American bands such as Metallica and Slayer, and this basically killed the British bands off. The final album - The Worst of Acid Reign, was released more as a way of finishing their contract, although for true fans such as myself, the early demo recordings and outakes included were insightful looks into the way that Acid Reign worked and developed. And then, it was all over.
When I was into the band at the time, CD's were still in their infancy, and I certainly couldn't afford them, so I bought everything on vinyl. Some CD's are still available now, and you find them auctioned on Ebay from time to time. The fact that they sell for nearly 20 pounds is surely a testament to how good Acid Reign actually were.