The late 80’s brought with it some interesting musical changes in all genres from Hard Rock to Heavy Metal to Industrial to Techno and beyond. One band that incorporates all of the above and accelerated to the top of their game by the mid-’90s is Industrial oddity Lords of Acid. Leader of the pack and the only original member, Belgium’s Praga Khan is at it again with the catchy and innovative raw power, sex, drugs, and synthesizers of Pretty in Kink, which arrives on Friday, May 18, 2018, thanks to Metropolis Records.
Over a span of approximately thirty years, a solid body of ever-changing albums along with ever-changing musicians was created under the guise of Lords of Acid. While the band has had a multitude of lead female vocalists over the years, they have never once lost integrity with these changes. In fact, the only downside is that once the fans get accustomed to one hauntingly sexy voice, something happens, and the dawn of a new vocalist is born.
Interestingly for Lords of Acid, they seem to tour many years apart, and while their 2017 tour featured DJ Mia as the vocalist – plus a variety of back-up dancers featuring iridescent hula-hoops and juggling balls – the much earlier Sextreme Ball Tour of 2010 brought in non-permanent member Lacey Skulls as the lead female vocalist along with Guitarist Sin Quirin from Ministry. Needless to say, despite the great stage presence and dedication, that tour was filled with much more backing tracks than perhaps is normal for the band due to its fill-ins.
Although Praga Khan sets the bar as he sees fit with synthesizers, programming, and backing vocals, while the rest of the troops bring a new twist as follows with newest Lead Vocalist Marieke Bresseleers, Drummer Galen Waling, Guitarist Erhan Kurken, and Bassist Doggy Dave. The album features the expected wild mix of Dance-friendly jams. Featuring 12 tracks of Industrial Techno-style beats and rhythms and is guaranteed to stimulate a nerve in any musically-depraved fan, it all start with “Break Me.” Sparking a good intro to the dynamic of the female lead, it plays on oddities of the synth variety, and has no shortage of cleanly alluring vulgarity. Yet, this is just the beginning…
Throughout the album there are quite a few moments of backing male vocals in any style variation from seductive, echoed foreign-tongued whispers to old-school Hip Hop style. The first apparent moment is in the specifically harmonized track “Mia Fille De Joie,” and later in the songs “What The Fuck!” and “Goldfinger,” where those Hip Hop elements come into play with a diverse base to build on. The latter song, “Goldfinger,” obviously has a mellow James Bond girl flavor, but then gets into a faster-paced Techno beat and explores the Hip Hop vocals as well. “What The Fuck!” is totally running back to those ‘80s roots, which of course have turned full circle back into popularity again in 2018. The mix of Rap/Hop and guitar works well, and becomes a welcome change of pace and turning point on the album.
Traveling backwards to the third track on the album, “Sex Cam Girl” holds the perfect sex trance dance, PG-13 vibe Lords of Acid are known for. Meanwhile, one of the most unusual songs on the album is “Like Pablo Escobar” which definitely makes a light-hearted situation out of a serious and powerful man.
Back towards the tail end of the album, “So Goddamn Good” has a great crossover beat and mash up with the female to male vocals both full of vulgarity and seductive echo trance. Moving onward to “My Demons Are Inside” all the earlier Voodoo-U elements are prominent with a dominant electro vibe. In the end, the finale of “We Are The Freaks” brings duel vocals with chanting charms and gritty guitars.
Wrapping up on a positive note of knowing one’s own self-worth and accepting individuality as the spice of life, Praga Khan has found yet another entertaining band of misfit toys to take his vision to fruition in a modern yet true-to-their-roots body of work. Pretty In Kink can be listened to in any order and still reeks of success as an album, plus it can hold its own next to the greatest hits from the late ‘80s into the ‘90s. For these aforementioned reasons, CrypticRock votes Lords of Acid’s Pretty in Kink a 4 out of 5 stars.
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