Music review: Acid Bath - Demos: 1993-1996 (2005)

Not a review about the music itself, since all the tracks in here are present on When the Kite String Pops (review TBD) and Paegan Terrorism Tactics (could improve this one), but the sound changes.

It's simply the sound they should have had on the original LPs, sludge really loves that kind of raw production job. And don't misunderstand me, this is not the kind of demo sound that would relegate it to the "only for collectors" bin, but a completely viable (even if somewhat garage-y and not entirely perfect) alternative one.

I like to think that this is close to what a NOLA sludge record engineered by Steve Albini would feel like, unlike the ultra-processed Roadrunner Records like production on WtKSP. On the subject of Albini, I think the difference I'm writing about might be similar to the gulf between In Utero's DGC release mix and the "original" one, but magnified a hundred times.

So yeah, the best tracks from their 2 LPs (though Paegan Terrorist Tactics isn't the same without those Swans-esque gothic folk interludes) with only one unnecessary demo curio in the middle. Can't give 10 to a compilation when I didn't even give it to their best work, but 9? Easily.