Acid Reign

During the heyday of pure thrash in the years before English acts helped push heavy metal forward through grindcore and doom/death in the early 1990s, most U.K. groups found little traction. Acid Reign stood out among those overlooked bands largely because their Monty Python-inspired wit gave them a distinctly British flavor, yet even that failed to build any enduring reputation.

The group came together around 1986 in Harrogate, England, with vocalist H, guitarists Gaz Jennings and Kev, bassist Ian Gangwer, and drummer Ramsey Wharton. Their Moshkenstein demo quickly prompted reviewers to brand the band the U.K. counterpart to the wisecracking Anthrax, leading to a deal with the thrash-focused Under One Flag label. Though titled ominously, the 1989 release The Fear mixed fresh songs with material from the prior year’s demos and included playfully absurd tracks such as “You Never Know (With Ringo Starr),” prompting the expected satirical jabs at the domestic media. Those antics ended abruptly when bassist Gangwer lost his passport and derailed a key European tour, prompting his immediate replacement by Mac. Jennings soon departed to launch Cathedral and was succeeded by Adam Lehan, who joined in time to record the 1990 album Obnoxious; by then the band had already worn out its welcome, partly because of an earlier, unpersuasive take on Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone.” With no fresh ideas left, the lineup dissolved in early 1991; Lehan and Ramsey briefly played with Cathedral while Kev later gained notoriety in Lawnmower Deth.