Acme "...to reduce the choir to one soloist"

I guess when Acme first started their onslaught of mid-tempo-metallic-hardcore it actually fit into more of a sludge category. Currently sludge is a lot slower than what is on this album. Acme hails from Bremen, Germany and if I had to guess, was probably around for 3 years or so. I found out about this band from a friend who was more into the underground hardcore punk and metal coming out in the mid-90's. I actually ended up finding it on Wal-Mart's website (apparently Edison Recordings has some serious distribution) through google searches, and couldn't find it anywhere else (and didn't care as much about anything at the time) so got it via Wal-Mart online, which is hilarious-to me anyway. All the information I'm writing on these guys comes from mostly second-hand sources, but I'll give it a shot. This is a discography of stuff that Acme put out on a 7", some compilations, etc. It came out in 1996, but the material is from the early to mid-90's formed by members of Systral, Carol, and Morser.

I poked around a bit on the internet to see what others had to say about it, and pretty generic references are made to sludge and Eye Hate God and the like. But, as far as sludge goes these guys don't fuck around with the stoner metal Black Sabbath guitar work that's typical for the genre. They play heavy as hell hardcore with metal riffage that doesn't show intense experimentation or genre destroying innovation, but instead, exactly what should happen happens. Depending on what sort of bill they played on you could probably find kids doing windmills or burning blunts and headbanging. However, the borderline "mosh" parts aren't complete and utter musical bullshit signature to a mosh-core genre. Instead they have a couple layers of guitar that allows for some lead guitar work over the chugs and juds. They also mix up these parts by not riding on open "E" chords all day, but actually showing some craftsmanship. The drums are constantly hammering along, and always tight, with some skillfully placed double-kick (which is often way overused, misused, and abused). Sound-wise it's probably a more straight-forward and faster version of Ire with more metal guitar, some crazy old-school Dillinger Escape Plan guitar sounds, but obviously not as techy, and some Catharsis type feels are accomplished by the contrast as the album progresses, which I can respect in a discography-style album. The vocals are really throaty, and he sounds like he's out to brutalize his vocal chords (which I always love since there are so many kids out there that just fake it), and more mid to high in pitch of scream. The lyrics are very socio-poetic, and in English, not German.

Basically, the songs go from fast in your face blast parts, to brutal breakdowns, and sweet mid-tempo parts that carry the songs where they should go, so check it out.

Attempt.mp3
Repress.mp3

score: 4/5