CD review: Acid Mothers Temple, Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On?

This year, the Japanese psychedelic-metal collective Acid Mothers Temple stayed busier than most and released four albums.

Their latest, Dark Side of the Black Moon: What Planet Are We On? is unaltered in the slightest from their uncountable number of previous outputs, and if anything, their style – a distinct rupture of metallic speed – has swelled into an even more berserk tempest.

No other band makes music so extreme; not extreme like a Mountain Dew commercial, but the overzealous pursuit of distilling only what is required to showcase a lack of moderation.

There are no interludes, no breakdowns, no calm patches, no introspection, and not an iota of breathing room, because once Dark Side awakens, every instant fires full throttle, with a demented treatment of overlapping guitars charging imponderable beats-per-minute, the swarm of fizzy intergalactic effervescence, and the unequivocal jangle of tribal psychedelia heard in pastoral Bavarian communes during the late 60s.

According to their record company’s website, Dark Side is “the follow up to Reoccurring Dream & Apocalypse.” Between that release in 2008, more than ten albums (counting side projects and live albums) bridge the gap, but often their productivity obscures their flabbergasting dynamics because of their consistent unchanging sound. Specifically, it’s usually tricky to distinguish one album from the other; tracks are so expansive (most nearing the ten minute mark or beyond) and dense (so dense it’s disorienting to get a handle on nuances) that the majority seem interchangeable and could possibly belong on any number of Acid Mothers Temple releases.

And maybe you are one of those that desire restraint or are frustrated by the supposed ‘sameness’? Well stay away (and it’s more of a health warning at this point), because that consistency and persistent intensity is precisely why immersed in the newest Acid Mothers Temple release, and probing within a seemingly endless squall, provides utmost satisfaction; that is, if you’re in the mood to perceive the corresponding musical sensation of being scotch taped to a roller coaster and hurled incessantly throughout a cosmic labyrinth.

Available now on Important Records.

3.5 stars.

This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2009.