ACID REIGN - The Age Of Entitlement

10 songs
44:11 minutes
***** ****
Dissonance

Bandpage

I was quite astonished when I recently received a promo album from Acid Reign. I remember how as a young adult I enjoyed their EP Moshkinstein and their first longplayer The Fear. The British band played great thrash metal with crossover elements that reminded of DRI and Suicidal Tendencies. Soon after came their second album Obnoxious – with an atrocious cover artwork – on which the band played a straighter kind of thrash metal. After six years the band broke up in 1990.

In 2015 they decided to try a comeback with the original line-up. The chemistry didn’t work though and the musicians little by little left the band. And still we get this year their third album The Age Of Entitlement, and apart from vocalist Howard Smith, not a single original member has remained.

The Age Of Entitlement, despite the new line-up, is the logical successor of Obnoxious, although the new album sounds thanks to a powerful production more modern and not like a simple rehash from the early Nineties. After a short instrumental intro we get served with solid thrash metal. Acid Reign play very fast riffs, although they never sound too extreme. There are plenty of harmonies and melodic choruses, sometimes with wonderful multi-layered vocals, with songs like My Peace Of Hell and the eight minute long Within The Woods reminding of Metallica. The concluding United Hates, at six minutes also one of the longer tracks, is a fantastic hymn. Ripped Apart reminds rather of the band’s earlier material, and Blood Makes Noise is a Suzanne Vega cover version, although substantially sped up.

The killer clown cover artwork turned out quite cool. Mark Wilkinson, the artist in question, has created in the past already for Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Marillion. But not only their choice for a renowned cover artist shows that Acid Reign are again highly motivated. The Age Of Entitlement is highly entertaining and could be labelled old school metal with a modern touch. Definitely a welcome surprise after all these years of absence.