ACIDMAN - EVERLIGHT

ACIDMAN have been rocking it their way for 17 years already, and they show no signs of stopping. On April 16th they released their first single since 2012 and their 23rd overall, EVERLIGHT.

Normally an ACIDMAN single is either a thrashing headbanger or a stroll down mellow lane; they don't often like going in between. EVERLIGHT would fall into the former category, but they seem slightly conflicted as moments of quiet punctuate the song. "We found an everlight" croons Ooki Nobuo repeatedly over a lone acoustic guitar at the start, falsely leading the listener to think it's one of their slow ones. However 14 seconds in it flips to a wall of piercing guitar riffs and fierce drumming. This follows their song formula quite closely. The verses are gentler and mainly driven by light, undistorted guitar and the calm hum of Satou Masatoshi's bass. Urayama Ichigo's machine gun drumming dials up the volume through the pre-chorus, leading up to it all exploding into a crowd-pleasingly noisy and also quite stirring chorus. Ooki's recognisable husky vocals deliver well even during the loudest of rock cries, but they're best appreciated during the lull of the middle eight where they take on a soothing tone and at the uplifting end. It's a big rock anthem which is typical ACIDMAN.

The B-sides are both cover versions of their own songs which appeared on the 2009 album A Beautiful Greed. For the unfamiliar, the band often includes self-covers which can be recognised by the addition of "(second line)" to the title and could be collectively described as "ACIDMAN minus the acid". The first is ±0 (second line), and the original heavy rock has been replaced with light Latin rhythms and some sterling acoustic guitar work from the frontman. I STAND FREE was a slow rock piece in its first life and so in contrast has an upbeat, folk pop feel in its acoustic version, with a really bouncy, cheerful bassline. Just in case you'd like to compare, newer versions of the originals are also included on the single. They have been remastered by Grammy award-winning mastering engineer Ted Jensen.

This single release gives us a catchy bit of rock, quite possibly one of their catchiest in the past few years. It's bright enough to please the fans and memorable enough to get the attention of those who haven't paid them much mind before. The "second line" B-sides also give them a chance to give a completely different performance and give us a glimpse of their musical versatility, making this a well-rounded release.

You can watch a clip of the music video for EVERLIGHT below.