Zoroaster

Typically slow and suffocating, Zoroaster is a fine example Acid King's blacker-than-Sabbath doom. After working the West Coast stoner rock underground and releasing their debut EP, Lori S. and her band dropped this, their first full-length disc on Sympathy for the Record Industry in 1995. While Zoroaster is a fine listen, Acid King were still developing their brand of sludgy excess, and the tongue-in-cheek satanic grind might lack some their later work's commitment to the almighty riff. Singer/guitarist Lori S. gives fine performances throughout, but some comparatively traditional arrangements and faster tempos give an undesired luminescence to this disc that the band surpasses with the complete darkness featured on later works. Standout tracks like "Evil Satan" have enough low-down, barely decipherable, devil-riffing to make Ozzy blush, revealing a deep musical connection with all things unholy. New listeners might be advised to pick up later efforts that display the group in complete command of their form, but Acid King enthusiasts will instantly get it, and delight in Zoroaster's primitive conceptual guts.