Music

Album Review: Dr. Acula ‘Social Event of the Century’

Published

14 years ago

June 2, 2010

There are times when an album reviewer has to listen to something that just makes one drop their head into their hands and fight back tears. Not because the music moves us, not because we’ve been waiting so long to hear it, but because the music is really just that bad. Dr. Acula’s ‘Social Event of the Century’ is one such occasion. Just one glance at the album cover (below) is enough to tell you to watch out, this one is a doozy. But what makes it such a bad album? Well, read on to find out.

The album starts off with the title track and it starts off just fine. As a matter of fact, it’s a great deal of fun until about 2:00 in when you hear a scream of ‘SMOKE WEED ALL DAY!’. Yeah…good job there guys. That’s some Shakespearean material right there. And with that cringe-worthy lyric, the album starts to drop precipitously. Each song afterwards doesn’t match the musical style of the previous track and yet each one is undeniably and identifiably Dr. Acula. I’m not sure what that says about them, but I don’t think it’s anything good. Had the band stuck to one style and really explored the possibilities therein, it might have yielded some interesting results. Alas, ‘twas not meant to be.

Throughout the songs (which have ridiculous names such as ‘COCKOFF!’ or ‘Is this a party or a dick measuring contest?’), the band decided that they would appear cooler if they sampled basically everything under the sun that was/is popular. Here is a list of some of the places they have taken quotes from (and I couldn’t identify a few others): Boondock Saints, South Park (at least twice), Family Guy, Encino Man, True Romance, Step Brothers, and Kindergarten Cop. They’ve also sampled the sound of a bong being hit….yeah.

An irritating aspect of listening to this album is that in each song, Dr. Acula changes musical styles at least once or twice. As soon as I found myself comfortable in their playing punk rock, they changed to thrash. Once I was okay with them playing hardcore, they went to a sludge/black metal interlude. There is no stability in these songs and I’m considering the possibility that each member of Dr. Acula suffers from ADHD. If so, there is medication for that. I suggest getting a prescription.

So, is this album redeemed in any way? Well, it has pretty good production; I’ll give it that. Apart from some trashy (in a bad way) sounding cymbals, everything sits neatly and each instrument stands out when it needs to. So, I’ll give it to them that it was recorded and engineered properly.

In the end, ‘Social Event of the Century’ is a garbled mess with little redeeming factors. Early teens might love it to be rebellious against their parents, but I doubt anyone outside of that age group will find anything worthwhile.

1 out of 5 skulls

Related Topics:Album Review Dr. Acula review Social Event of the Century

JonathanBarkan

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Music

“He Walks By Night” – Listen to a Brand New John Carpenter Song NOW!

Published

2 weeks ago

April 9, 2024

John Squires

It’s a new day, and you’ve got new John Carpenter to listen to. John Carpenter, Daniel Davies and Cody Carpenter have released the new track He Walks By Night this morning, the second single off their upcoming album Lost Themes IV: Noir, out May 3 on Sacred Bones Records.

Lost Themes IV: Noir is the latest installment in a series that sees Carpenter releasing new music for John Carpenter movies that don’t actually exist. The first Lost Themes was released in 2015, followed by Lost Themes II in 2016 and Lost Themes III: Alive After Death in 2021.

Sacred Bones previews, “It’s been a decade since John Carpenter recorded the material that would become Lost Themes, his debut album of non-film music and the opening salvo in one of Hollywood’s great second acts. Those vibrant, synth-driven songs, made in collaboration with his son Cody Carpenter and godson Daniel Davies, kickstarted a musical renaissance for the pioneering composer and director. With Lost Themes IV: Noir, they’ve struck gold again, this time mining the rich history of the film noir genre for inspiration.

“Since the first Lost Themes, John has referred to these compositions as “soundtracks for the movies in your mind.” On the fourth installment in the series, those movies are noirs. Like the film genre they were influenced by, what makes these songs “noirish” is sometimes slippery and hard to define, and not merely reducible to a collection of tropes. The scores for the great American noir pictures were largely orchestral, while the Carpenters and Davies work off a sturdy synth-and-guitar backbone.

“The trio’s free-flowing chemistry means Lost Themes IV: Noir runs like a well-oiled machine—the 1951 Jaguar XK120 Roadster from Kiss Me Deadly, perhaps, or the 1958 Plymouth Fury from John’s own Christine. It’s a chemistry that’s helped power one of the most productive stretches of John’s creative life, and Noir proves that it’s nowhere near done yielding brilliant results.”

You can pre-save Lost Themes IV: Noir right now! And listen to the new track below…