SPOTLIGHT ARTIST - ACID BATH

Band Name: Acid Bath Band Website: www.acid-bath.com Band Members: Dax Riggs, Mike Sanchez, Sammy Pierre Duet, Audie Pitre, and Jimmy Kyle Band Biography: While they didn't gain much more than a cult following during their existence, Louisiana's Acid Bath has since attained a somewhat legendary status in the darker corners of the rock/metal underground. Their style -- a blend of Black Sabbath-like sludge, bluesy Southern rock, death metal, hardcore, and hints of goth and industrial -- remains difficult to pigeonhole, having elicited comparisons to everyone from fellow Bayou-dwellers Soilent Green and Eyehategod to less extreme acts such as Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and '90s-era Corrosion of Conformity. Secluded in the outback swamps of the Louisiana bayou, Acid Bath's humble inception exploded on the local level after they recorded "Hymns of the Needle Freak," produced by their then manager Keith Falgout. This self-promoted demo ultimately lead to their signing with Rotten Records, which allowed them to work with D.R.I.'s Spike Cassidy to create their acclaimed debut label release, "When the Kite String Pops", which was released on August 8, 1994 and is still considered an underground classic. The album's artwork is a painting made by notorious American serial killer John Wayne Gacy, while in prison awaiting execution. Two years and three national tours later, Acid Bath is ready to deliver their long awaited eleven song sophomore album "Pagan Terrorism," which featured a painting by suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian gracing the cover. This effort finds them returning to work with Falgout, to produce such songs as Dead Girl, Bleed Me an Ocean, Graveflower, Pagan Love Song and New Death Sensation. This album leaned in a more melodic hard rock direction, while still featuring a heavy dose of the sort of menacing metal that characterized much of When the Kite String Pops. Acid Bath has an incredible diversity to their music that gave them the ability to play with bands from almost any other genre, but it would be ludicrous to categorize their sound; the result would be too limiting. Furious, aggressive guitar buzz is supplied by Mike Sanchez and Sammy Duet. Audie Pietre added vile, low-end pulsations on bass to fill out the bottom. Jimmy Kyle uses his characteristic springless snare as a channel to create exhausting, tooth-grinding beats an doften times pushing rhythems. Dax Riggs contributes the vocal element as if he were the satanic son of Jim Morrison, with an occasional brutal scream added to the mix by Audie or Sammy. Together, they fused numerous musical styles that fall under the category of loud or heavy creating an intoxicating gumbo that tempts one's palate with hard-core, gothic, psychedelic-punk and grind. This innovative blend is insanely exlosive, but creates a breathless intensity and exhilarting flavor that is easy to swallow. Acid Bath's boundary-busting swamp-core sound conquers what death metal has yet to encounter. Unfortunately Acid Bath's career came to an abrupt and tragic close in 1997 when bass guitarist Audie Pitre and his parents were killed in a drunk driving accident (the other driver was at fault). This effectively brought Acid Bath to an end, with the other members finding themselves unable to carry on in the same spirit. While rumors of another album circulated after the band's end, nothing new surfaced. Despite only releasing two albums, as well as a number of CDs of radio edits and some label-endorsed bootlegs, Acid Bath have gained a strong underground following owing to the unique, experimental nature of their music. Acid Bath are best known for blending extreme, grindcore influenced sludge metal with a mixture of death metal growls and melancholic goth/grunge-style vocals and acoustic guitar passages, as well as use of sampling and the spoken word. This unique musical blend still gains the band much critical acclaim almost a decade after their untimely demise. Dax Riggs and Mike Sanchez, eventually went on to perform in Agents of Oblivion releasing one self-titled album until that also ended. Dax formed and is currently in a bad known as Deadboy & The Elephantmen. Sammy Duet was once a member of Crowbar, but has since left the band. Duet went on to become a member of the black metal band Goatwhore and Ritual Killer and his doom metal band with Kelly Pitre (the brother of Audie) Vual. Review Of This Band By Mistress Malice: I was fortunate enough to see this band play in New Orleans before the untimely death of Audie Pitre, which is something that many Acid Bath fans of today can not say. When I first stepped into the club to see what all the fuss about this Bayou based band was their haunting sounds wrapped itself around My brain and never let go! I fell completely in love with their darkly seductive vocals and eerie instrumentals. I can honestly say that Acid Bath achieved one thing that even some really good bands have not... a truly unique original sound unlike any other band on earth! Despite the shortness of Acid Bath's career I am and always will be a diehard Acid Bath fan until the day I cease to exist! This band is easily number one on My favorite band list and I can't imagine any other band ever taking their place!

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