The Deadbeats

Uncle Acid is on his way home. A disorientating journey through Kevin Starr's (aka Uncle Acid) wonkiest dreams, 'Wasteland' glides majestically from punchy and direct psych-rock anthems to the viscous. Recorded at the legendary Sunset Sound studio in Los Angeles, 'Wasteland' boasts the kind on irresistibly raw and exuberant sound that only the greatest bands can generate.

Just as they did with their unexcitingly named 2010 debut, Vol. 1, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats dedicate their sophomore album, the following year's tellingly named Blood Lust, to celebrating the Summer of Love's soul-chilling autumn: a blasted landscape, post-flower power, resembling Altamont's killing fields, reeking of the Manson Family murders, and, naturally, sounding like a mish-mash of all of the apocalyptic musical forces that converged upon that era. We're talking a mixture of psychedelic rock's harrowing comedown, garage and punk rock's nihilistic ascent, and the earliest manifestations of heavy metal's occult-laced, nerve-damaging bludgeon (later reclassified as doom) - all poured into a deadly cocktail…

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats' first album, Vol. 1, may not have cost much money to make, but the ideas behind it are solid gold. Working cheaply on clapped-out gear, guitarist/vocalist Kevin Starrs, bassist Kat, and drummer Red take all the dusty tropes of heavy metal, acid rock, biker rock, and doomy psych rock, knock them around mercilessly, then breath life back into them until they shine like new. It's defiantly lo-fi and unadorned by studio gloss, but it works. It doesn't matter that Starrs' grinding guitars sound ready to fizzle out half the time, the bass and drums are barely audible, and the vocals are murky when the songs are so hooky and the performances are so on point…

Equal parts psychedelic and psychotic, Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats take listeners on another mind-melting, proto-metal journey on their trippy third outing, Mind Control. Every detail - from the sound that feels as influenced by the harmonies of the British Invasion as it is by the ominous blues of Black Sabbath, to the archival-looking album covers - helps to give the album the feel of some sort of forgotten gem rather than a modern invention. And while listeners might not find much in the way of innovation on a record like Mind Control, there's plenty of trance-inducing fun to be had, making it a must-listen for those who like to spend their days in the psychedelic end of the pool.

The fourth studio long player from the idiosyncratic English psych-rock/proto-metal unit, the Rise Above Records-issued Night Creeper was recorded at Toe Rag Studios in early 2015 with engineer Liam Watson (White Stripes, Tame Impala, Electric Wizard). Sabbathy, savage, and sordid, the ten-track set offers up a master class in doomy atmosphere and meaty hooks, with highlights arriving via viscera-exploding cuts like "Waiting for Blood," "Murder Nights," and "Slow Death."

Supergroup formed by ex-Catheadral and Electric Wizard/Ramesses members