Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats -The Night Creeper (Album Review)

Ester Segarra

Cambridge England-based Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats came on the scene in 2009 as a studio project with their brand of “Psycho Music.”  Under the guidance of Kevin ”K.R.” Starr (originally just Uncle Acid), who does vocals, lead guitars, and organs, Uncle Acid consists of Yotam Rubinger on backing vocals and guitars, Itamar Rubinger on drums, and Vaughn Stokes on bass.  The band’s name was derived from Cactus’s singer Rusty Day, had a band named Uncle Acid and the Permanent Damage Band.  Their 2010 debut album, Volume 1, came about “frustration and unemployment.”  Their follow-up album, 2011’s Blood Lust, blew them up with its homage to ’70s British Hammer and folk Horror films.  What set Blood Lust a part is its “whirling head-trip of candle-lit mayhem; a world of withered hands, ritual knives, and gallows ropes.” Theirs is a heavy psychedelic vibe in the vein of The Beatles if they had been darker.  2013’s Mind Control took a cult-ish tone like Jim Jones in Jonestown with every sin or taboo brought to the front.  Mind Control was an album with social commentary on commercialism and society sinking into a prettified abyss.  September 4, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats drop The Night Creeper, recorded at Toe to Rag studios, and engineered by Liam Watson (White Stripes, Tame Impala, and Electric Wizard) via Rise Above Records.

The Night Creeper is a 10-track album that is vocally reminiscent of underrated Alternative Rock band Loudermilk/Gosling with a murderously harmonious musical vibe.  As with previous outings, The Night Creeper has a story to tell about a “street-creeping homeless figure, whose story unravels over the course of the album,” starting with “Waiting for Blood.”  This track sets the mood for The Creeper with the character’s introduced with guitar feedback followed by a multi-guitar riff that plays throughout the piece as the character lurks in the shadows, waiting, watching with a steady drum/heartbeat.  Then, as he pounces, a sweet guitar solo accompanies as the guys sing, “There’s a man in the darkness/waiting for blood.”  A riff like someone strolling the streets begins and carries through “Murder Nights” as the drums kick with that same heartbeat feel until the hook kicks in with the multiple guitars weaving in and out of each like a fight or a feeding frenzy with lyrics such as, “I know you love murder nights/I know you love death.”  Guitars herald “Downtown” with a bluesy stalking-like riff that goes throughout the track is accompanied by light drums when the guitars split like a person looking around nervously thinking we are alone in this world, but we are not.

Working the guitars and drums hard, “Pusher Man” comes in in this exceptionally downbeat track of the drug pusher’s siren call as he beckons the character singing, “I’m the pusher man.”  A scene of the character in a serene meadow at night comes to mind in the unplugged “Yellow Moon” that showcases the beautifully brooding instrumental melodies Uncle Acid has in their arsenal.  Then there is “Melody Lane” which has an organ note that follows from beginning through as a guitar strums hypnotically in accompaniment with drums like the character’s continuing its walk to a melody all its own.  The album title track, “The Night Creeper,” is a swing-riff led piece with equally laid back drums like the character’s its drug-fueled journey with the words, “The night creeper’s crawling/coming for you.”  The character’s trapped within their head in “Inside,” a funky tune guitars/drums are roughly played like a headache, only broken by a soaring guitar solo like a trip including the striking words, “How does it feel/when your skin begins to crawl/inside?” The lounge-sounding “Slow Death” follows with a bluesy, vibe like the character is passing out with a dreamy guitar solo followed by feedback as the character drifts off…never to wake again, as portrayed within the words, “I wish I could see the morning.”  The character’s died, and they have being taken to their final resting place in the hidden track, “Black Motorcade,” bringing The Night Creeper’s story to an end.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats’ The Night Creeper joins the ranks of Queen with their ’70s Rock Opera vibe and a healthy helping of the Beatles on LSD.  Their double-entendre lyrics will warrant multiple listens and then some to glean every nuance.  This is certainly an album worth digging into for one hell of a Rock-n-Roll trip. CrypticRock gives The Night Creeper 5 of 5 stars.

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