The Acid Ballet - Antibody

The Acid Ballet

Antibody
self-released; 2015

3.4 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

If you have every enjoyed Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, The Damned or The Misfits you should keep reading. The Acid Ballet who are comprised of Spectre Lacroix (vocals), Sweeney DeVille (guitar), Rize LeStrange (guitar), Dagon Attarno (bass) and D.D (drums) mix ‘70s metal, goth, post-punk with experimental tendencies while looking like the artsy kids from school who are putting on the local, past midnight adult only cabaret show. On their recent EP entitled Antibody they start to establish their own sound that for sure will resonate with a niche audience. If you can handle an artist like Prurient or Pharmakon this music should be easy to swallow.  

The only thing that held this EP back from hitting its potential was the recording quality. A song like “Antibody” would have been so much more cathartic if you could feel the thud of the bass drum and distortion dripping from the guitar. Unfortunately, the song is muddy and not matter how much I fiddled with my outboard EQ I couldn’t make it sound like it deserved. Recording quality aside, the delivery is there and if I was betting man I would say these guys probably put on a killer live show. 

The EP opens with my personal favorite track “(I Heard) The Bride (Was Crying).” The guitar tips its hat to old sludge metal and the singer immediately establishes his dynamic, cathartic style. He sings, “I'm the Accuser / The Seducer / My own damn Persecutor / Through fields of snow, with your teeth so clean I make my money from your suicide dreams.” You can definitely hear some Marilyn Manson in his voice on the chorus. For a seasoned musician with golden ears you will notice the band goes out of the pocket at one point but is most likely negligible to the average listener. 

“Antibody” sounds like a panic attack waiting to happen as Lacroix spurts out lyrics in a talk/sing type style while “Catharsis Snow” is a lot less intense and more melodic. They close with another solid song entitled “The Serpent Waits” which contains some exceptional sections where screaming vocals and screeching guitar combine. 

Antibody is the first in a trilogy of EPs and the idea is to show how the band develops. It’s going to be an interesting project and I wonder how it will play out. One thing I will say is that this does feel like the meager beginnings of a band that has potential to connect with a niche audience. If they can work with an engineer who can achieve the sound they are going for and continue to explore the foundation they established they should be well on their way.

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