Review by John Hegarty for MPM
As we make our way into Belfast on a warm Thursday evening, it’s been a crazy week of gigs. The festival season is on in Europe so a lot of bands are coming to the Emerald Isle.
There has been a gig every night this week, Christopher Cross on Monday night, Sugar on Tuesday night, Clutch on Wednesday night. Tonight in Belfast I’m excited to be seeing Acid Reign, they are no strangers to Ireland and they are classed as one of the Big Four of Thrash in the UK from the late 80’s early 90s.
As we make our way to the Voodoo you can see a heavy presence of Thrashers old and young, easily identified by the 80s style, skinny jeans, baseball boots, Slammer, Onslaught, Xentrix and Acid Reign t-shirts. As we make our way into the venue two Merch stands are set up, Acid Reign on right hand side and ‘Metal for Life’ NI stall on the left. MFL are an incredible registered charity that supports the mental health and well-being of Metal and Rock Music fans through free Peer support groups, workshops and support. Mr Acid Reign himself Howard ‘H’ Smith is selling and signing Merch and greeting fans. A few members of the band were visible as were part of the crew and they seem very happy especially with it being the first night of the Tour.
As the crowd pack into the venue it’s nearly time for the headliners to take to the stage. Acid Reign are Howard ‘H’ Smith (vocals), Peter Dee (bass), Matt Smith (guitar), Darren McGillivray and Jonny Grimley – Jonny and Darren are both ex members of Shrapnel. As the band begin to walk through the crowd and take to the stage a booming voice can be overheard however, there is no sign of ‘H’. Next thing we see the main man make an entrance through the crowd like a wrestler wearing a buttoned robe resembling a space age Messiah. ‘H’ vocals fill the voodoo as he approaches the stage. He moves around the stage commanding attention knowing how to work us, the Belfast audience.
The band are phenomenal and have all the elements on stage which is why I would consider them to be one of the best Thrash bands to come out of the UK. The band open the night with two new tracks from their newest album ‘Daze of the Week’ ; ‘Who’, ‘Goddess’ and Daze of the Week’. The new tracks were well received by the Voodoo and the band are proud to be playing these live for the first time. ‘H’ disrobes at this point due to the intense heat and is wearing a shirt that said ‘Fuck You’ with words also on his shorts – clearly a man who does not take himself too seriously which is why he fits in so well in Belfast.
‘H’ addresses the crowd and jokes Belfast its warm tonight telling a tale of why he was late to the stage, as he had to take his futuristic robe off as he realised he forgot to attach his ‘in ear monitor’ and had to remove the robe and put it back on again. The Voodoo are taken aback and blown away not only by ‘H’s personality and humour but also how tight and on cue the Harrogate lads are. ‘H’ amuses us with more antics quipping that he should greet us like an American band by saying ‘Hey Dublin, we love you’ instead of Belfast. Acid Reign continue to power on through their set with harmonious riffs and thundering bass and pounding double bass drums on ‘Humanoia’, ‘New Low’, and ‘Aloney’ The latter being another new track and it’s a real belter and is a stand out track of the night for me. The world is full of Thrash Metal bands, however none have the empathy and passion about their material and fans quite like Acid Reign. Their love of touring and unlike other touring bands they don’t bypass Ireland. Their albums are mind-blowing and are an excellent example of how Thrash bands should sound.
Pete wearing a Hawkwind t-shirt, comes down from the stage and stomps about in the audience pounding his basslines. ‘H’ again takes to the mic – the fans eagerly await what humorous remark he will make next. He commented on the Belfast buses being in support of the ‘Obnoxious’ album as they are pink and has everyone laughing – he lets us know that the Obnoxious t-shirt is on sale. ‘H’ jests about the money invested on the Infrastructure in particular he makes reference to the Rise Sculpture and jokes about the rubble once caused by the bombings during the troubles and connects this to the rubble he seen near the venue. ‘H’ manages to joke without offense and has us all enjoying the craic. Back to business Acid Reign roll out ‘Sarrowsorn 1234’ and ‘Life in Forms’. ‘H’ chats about the new album released on the 15.05.26 and it’s obvious that the band are excited about their new material. H tells how their management wanted them to release four singles but they wanted to stick to two singles as they are old school. He tells us their agent didn’t book Ireland and the band wanted come – ‘H’ joked hey if you want to lose money you need to play in Belfast and Dublin and had the crowd in stitches.
‘Hanging’ ‘Just Sit There’ were meet with rapturous appreciation from the crowd and ‘H’ went round the venue with his mic encouraging the fans to sing the words karaoke style. ‘H’ quipped how he might drop karaoke from the set as everyone is singing but it’s not the right words. If ‘H’ ever decides to retire from his day job he most certainly would do well as a stand-up comedian!! The lads from Acid Reign don’t take themselves too seriously as they are zany and wild characters but they still deliver fierce Thrash Metal. Acid Reign bring a phenomenal set to an end with ‘No Truth’, ‘Fantastic’ and the final track of the evening ‘Motherly’.
I would advise that you go see Acid Reign on this current tour and check out their newest release. Acid Reign are one of the hardest working bands currently in the industry, I wonder at times was their geographical location the reason they didn’t reach the heights that they deserve. That being said they are down to earth and love to engage with their fans and deserve the recognition and support. If you have a love of Thrash Metal you will definitely like Acid Reign.
Photography by MPM
