Too much droning!
Wandering around the bigger stages, I come across an interesting sounding band. Black Acid seem to have a truly alternative sound, veering away from the indie genre which they might have been grouped with at first glance. Their sound is a slow, bass heavy drone with a pinch of rock. The Sisters of Mercy first pop into my head but they aren't really gothic so I'll discount that, but the feeling is still there. There's plenty of distortion, lots of bass from both the guitars and the drums but I think I've got it.
It's the droning!
At their worst, they sound boring and tuneless. But there are points as I'm listening where I think "This wouldn't be bad turned on as background music at home". There are big crescendos and build-ups of distortion and repetitive vocals, moving into faster paced, noisy rock sections that are quite short. There's nothing impressive in a technical sense but I can see what this band were aiming for..... just. There's some variation. Their songs are long but by the third, we are back into the poppy, indie vein and the dark edge they had is lost. But it doesn't last. The droning comes back and we are treated to some more boredom. But as they close, their chilled out, stoned guitar riffs come back with less noise and annoyance.
There's something in this band. I don't see them as a festival or even live band at all, but I think with production, they'd make some good recordings. It's 'sit-down' music really.