Steak Announce Acute Mania Out April 1; Premiere “Papas Special Custard” Video
London heavy rockers Steak release their new album, Acute Mania, on April 1 through Ripple Music. It is the third full-length from the UK four-piece, and with its arrival, the video premiering below for “Papas Special Custard,” and especially the advent of the Steak: Mad Lord comic book that will be included with the vinyl and the accompanying short film Mad Lord, the band seem to be tying all the pieces together for where their interests and ambitions have led them all along, from Chris “Kippa” Haley reminding of Nick Cave‘s Grinderman as guitarist Reece Tee leads bassist James “Cam” Cameron and drummer Dean Deal (ex-Magna Saga/Crystal Head) through a fluid, All Them Witches-style build on “Last Days,” to the samurai visual
thematic seen in “Papas Special Custard” and in other videos still to come. By the time Acute Mania arrives, Steak will be bordering on five years since 2017’s No God to Save (review here), and while I don’t know the actual circumstances of the writing or recording for this eight-track/47-minute collection, if you wanted to apply the ‘probably had more time to work on their songs because they couldn’t tour’ pandemic narrative that’s been so gosh darn popular these last couple years, true or not, it would fit.
That is to say, Acute Mania is the most complex and the broadest-ranging work Steak have done to-date. I’ll spare you a review, but in songs like “Frequencies,” the aforementioned “Last Days” and closer “Mono” with a guest vocal spot from Vodun‘s Chantal Brown, their songs are patient in a way they’ve never been before. “Dead Meat” seethes rather than rushes. “System,” with Tom Cameron on vocals, manages to resonate its urgency without hitting full throttle in a way that feels like Steak have grown up. “Ancestors” is still the kind of hook that might define a record, and the lads might still, say, title a song something like “Papas Special Custard,” but Acute Mania is a more mature vision of who they are, building on what they’ve accomplished in the last decade since 2012’s Disastronaught EP (review here) introduced them to the world.
If this is Steak marking their own status as veterans, consciously or not, then fair enough. Their sound is no
less physical than it has been, and their progression in style has been both marked from release to release and well earned both in songwriting and in slogging it out on tour when able, but they present their material in a way that comes across as more thoughtful, more dynamic, and able to shift in ways that, when plowing straight ahead, aren’t necessarily possible. “Papas Special Custard,” which is the longest cut on Acute Mania at 8:29, demonstrates this well, with a break in its midsection that’s cleverly built back up to a solo-topped crescendo for the album and story alike. The video, which gives a preview of the comic book with illustrations by Rhys Wootton, with whom the band has worked all along, has graphic violence and some nudity, so if you want to call it NSFW, that’s probably reasonable, but you should quit your job anyway because life’s too short for that shit and you know it. I’m not advocating going out in a blaze of cartoon geisha boobage (nor would I advocate said boobage to start with), but anyhow, quit your job. The track’s killer. Rock and roll.
Next stop: A box set of action figures. Oh yeah, and the album release.
Steak — who got booted off their Facebook page because it was hacked and had to start all over and could use a ‘Like’ if you’d want to throw one their way — will be appearing at Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin 2022 this Spring, and recently took part in Glory or Death Records‘ Bow to Your Masters Vol. 2 tribute to Deep Purple. One expects that, conditions permitting, more tour dates will follow.
Below, you’ll find the video as well as art, the album preorder links and credits.
Please enjoy:
Steak, “Papas Special Custard” video premiere
Preorders:
Digital – https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/acute-mania
Physical – https://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com/products?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search=acute+mania
London’s premier stoner rockers, Steak, return with their latest full-length album for Ripple Music – “Acute Mania” – scheduled for an April 1st release (No April Fooling here, folks)
Take a gander and open up your ears for the first taste of the upcoming album – this is the animated music video for “Papas Special Custard.”
All songs written and performed by Steak
Guest vocal and lyrics’ System’ by Tom Cameron
Guest vocal and arrangement on ‘Mono’ by Chantal Brown
Recorded by JB Pilon at Buffalo Studio
Mixed by JB Pilon and credit to Simone Lomardi
Mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén at Tri-Lamb Studios
Album art by Schoph Schofield and Rhys Wootton
Video director : Samuel Smith www.samuelsmithdirector.com
More info about the comic book that will come alongside the super limited vinyl edition (250 copies):
https://www.samuelsmithdirector.com/comic-book
Illustrator : Rhys Wootton
Production Company : IMAGECLEAVER: http://www.imagecleaver.com
[…] London stoner rock veterans Steak return with their long-awaited third studio album »Acute Mania«, to be released on April 1st and available to preorder now on Ripple Music. Watch their epic (NSFW) animated video »Papas Special Custard« over at The Obelisk! […]