28 Years Later, Acid Bath Reappear in Toronto, Straight Out of the Primordial Sludge!

jaybroderick
3 hours ago
3 min read

By: Joe Taylor

Toronto, Canada - Acid Bath formed in 1991 and departed in 1997. They are a heavy, sludgy doom band that was pioneering a different sound for the nineties. Combining sludge, doom, hardcore and thrash music, Acid Bath became an important influence on a new musical direction. The band broke up due to the death of their bassist Audie Pitre. They hail from Houma, Louisiana and recorded two studio albums titled When the Kite String Pops in 1994 and Paegan Terrorist Tactics in 1996.

Fast forward 28 years later and a reunion was formed.

Acid Bath

Sammy Duet performs live in Toronto. Photo By: Joe Taylor

Bathed in simple black and white lights, Acid Bath climbed slowly out of the primordial sludge that helped create their signature sound. As each song slowly dragged you into their pit of despair, the mostly young crowd was ramping up their excitement. The fans looked in awe, like they couldn’t believe this show was really happening. It is a rare moment where Toronto looked both excited and surprised at the same time. The venue was nearly sold out and the fans were here to truly rejoice in this unexpected reunion.

When the lights began to turn red, it felt like these electric eyes peering through you and ramped up the crowd to almost a drooling status as they cheered “Acid Bath” over and over. I stood off to the side of the stage and the crowd, and got a perfect view of these young people crowd surfing consistently throughout the show. Of course it began during their song, “Bleed Me an Ocean”. As the haziness continued I was emotionally involved with their song “New Death Sensation”. The feeling was that of finding a needle in the grass and sticking it in your arm just to see what was inside of it. What kind of death are you looking for?

This Toronto crowd was made up of mostly young fans that were not even born when Acid Bath was a thing. Some of the crowd were older fans, and they brought their kids to experience this band together. The younger members were getting a history lesson of the early sounds of sludge and doom metal. A song like “Graveflower” felt like a solemn epitaph that had lichen plants growing over its dark past and the secrets it kept. As I was immersed in this song, I was watching the crowd surfers make their way to the front of the stage, like a river watering that grave. The band seemed very surprised by this reaction, that they thanked everyone simply for remembering them.

Then came a larger than life sound that completely sucked you into the void where machines eat everything that enters. It became more intense as if they turned a jackhammer on just to try and split you open. This force of nature completely cracked open your psyche just to whisper the message that Dr. Suess is Dead! This was a rare moment where the fans did not want this show to end. They stayed when the lights went up still chanting "ACID BATH!"

Since I had a media pass for the show, I naturally assumed the doors would be open by 7pm and the first band should be on by 8pm. Well, I was wrong. The doors for this show were at 5:30pm and the first band went on at 6:30pm. Acid Bath went on around 7:30pm. Fortunately, I made it in time to photograph Acid Bath. Some of the audience members were completely disappointed because of the early start. A father brought his kids to see this band and they arrived at 8pm. They were just in time to see 4 songs.

So when you buy your tickets, double check the time to avoid disappointment. I do believe this is the policy of Rebel. If a band is playing on a Friday or Saturday, it will be an early show, because they need to prepare to be a nightclub later the same evening.

Set List

Tranquilized

Bleed Me an Ocean

Venus Blue

The Bones of Baby Dolls

Dead Girl

New Death Sensation

Graveflower

Scream of the Butterfly

Paegan Love Song

Dr. Seuss Is Dead

Concert Photo Gallery (all photos by Joe Taylor)