V/A - Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares
(Numero Group)

(Un) Holy hell! Numero Group is back with their latest installment of their Wayfaring Strangers series. Three years ago, they re-dubbed the series Warfaring Strangers by summoning an ungodly mix of heavy slayers from a batch of flower-power burnouts coming out of the early / mid 70's. Clearly the success of Zeppelin and Sabbath had an effect on these disparate groups from the heartland but shockingly enough, these bands go one further and ratchet up the brutalized melodies, mythological violence and damaged psychedelia to staggering levels of depravity. Sure many of these bands recorded one single and burnt out but each and every track here is a grade-A scorcher that when pieced together for this new comp, Acid Nightmares, coalesce into an incomparable and unbelievable racket of epic proportions. Need proof? 
Supa Chief’s “Animal Woman” tears with sludgey riffs and a demonically plodding rhythm. Goliath’s “Dead Drunk Screamin” goes slow-boogie with odd fills and plenty of howling vocals. The leadoff by Portuguese proto-metal stompers Xarhanga and their title track “Acid Nightmare” utilizes a wraith-like guitar wail interspersed amongst pummeling drums and bass. Gift gives us the gloriously blunt “Drugs” which caterwauls with fuzz bass, unhinged drumming and Iommi-style guitars and fried leads. The band Acid gives us, yep you guessed it, “Acid!” featuring a groovy tapestry of Ozzy-like vocals and gnarly rhythms. Mass Temper’s “Grave Digger” is equally demented with a lo-fi, heavy riffing that is just as chaotic as it is catchy. Yeesh, so much to dig into here and don’t even get me started on Sardonicus’ twisted “Evaporated Brain.” Could these titles be any better themselves?
Whether these bands are completely serious about their dark and depraved intentions or if even if they’re just goofing around, the songs and the images they conjure are endearing and a pile of fun. But this stuff is pretty insane. Absolutely necessary and much-needed compilation along with the first part from 2014, Darkscorch Canticles. (Dom)
Check out a track here. 
Check out the trailer here.