Acid Magus Premiere “Dead Weight” Video Feat. Johni Holiday of Ruff Majik
Pretoria, South Africa’s Acid Magus released their second album, Hope is Heavy, through Mongrel Records in July as the follow-up to their 2021 debut Wyrd Syster (review here). The rolling, loosely hip-hop-informed “Dead Weight” is the third single from the six-track/43-minute long-player, preceded by “Caligulater” (posted here) and “Demon Behemoth” (posted here). Diverging from the band’s general methodology as it appears here, the penultimate cut features a guest appearance from Johni Holiday — whose band Ruff Majik released their excellent Elektrik Ram (review here) album earlier this year; you may have heard me drone on about how perfect it is — and wraps itself around the hook that begins with the line, “Twelve gauges to waste you,” and elephantine-fuzz marches through with due nod until the dreamy midsection, from whence it moves into a slower solo before rallying for a final chorus. Catchy, bouncing in its lumber-prone way, with Acid Magus vocalist Anrico Jeske reminding of Sasquatch during the verse with Holiday joining in effectively for the chorus and introducing the song.
Jeske is new to the band as of Hope is Heavy, as is guitarist/vocalist Brendon “Cowboy Bez” Bezuidenhout (also of Ruff Majik), who take the places respectively of former vocalist Christiaan Van Renen and nobody. Returning players Keenan Kinnear (guitar, songwriting), Jarryd Wood (bass) and Roelof van Tonder (drums on the album, now bass) are fairly consistent in tone and purpose from where Acid Magus was on Wyrd Syster, putting marked heft and fuzz behind heavy psychedelic liquidity with melody over top and an exploratory foundation. But there’s no question Acid Magus are a different band on Hope is Heavy, the title evoking a sense of ‘daring to hope,’ positing perhaps that it’s easier to be hopeless, whereas in order to have any kind of optimism for the future is harder work. I have little doubt this is true, and if you like heavy music named after heavy things, 10-minute LP closer “Trillion Tonne Sun” should satisfy nicely, but the change in the group is almost immediate as opener and previously mentioned single “Demon Behemoth” winds in on feedback and crashes to announce the arrival of its central riff and moves into its first verse.
Placed at the presumed end of side A, “Caligulater” gets a little rougher edged in its middle, but the melodic serenity of “Demon Behemoth” and the subsequent “Progeneration” — 
light touches of guitar there floating over the bassline and a chorus emerging that’s all the more a triumph because it stays slow — is maintained and a fluidity results as “Caligulater” picks up the tempo in seeming response to the song before it, keeping the airiness of guitar but setting it to swing along with the drums. Side B’s “A Planet, a Deathstar” is the shortest inclusion at 4:33, and it uses that time to begin a classic second-half-of-the-record expansion of style, with a spoken vocal over the early, resonant à la All Them Witches, acoustic-inclusive, low-key galloping verse, and a groove that holds as the fuller-toned fuzz unveiled and the grittier voice returns, suitable to the pulses that punctuate the riff, fading out to let Holiday mark the arrival of “Dead Weight.” And there is no level on which Hope is Heavy‘s penultimate track isn’t play. It’s cheeky, its groove is downright arrogant and the Jeske/Holiday tradeoffs make it a party, even if the video is set in an office with a surprising amount of longhairs in lower management.
It’s a blowout, if a somewhat different kind than “Caligulater,” but ends up in a not entirely dissimilar place following its two-minute intro, shimmering with heavy prog tonality and filled out beneath by denser low-end fuzz, opening for the verse like older-school European heavy rock and touching on ’90s-style alternative, but Acid Magus are clearly aware they’re at the end, and after reaffirming the semi-psych liquidity of side A, they use the final chorus of “Trillon Tonne Sun” for a crescendo with an epilogue of quiet guitar bookending the start of the song. The last purposeful move on the album but by no means the first, Hope is Heavy would feel like a second debut if the band hadn’t put so much detail and depth into the recording. Setting a broad context for themselves, they introduce listeners to their new lineup with intentional creative reach and a sound and style more cohesive than it was two years ago, despite the personnel shifts. And in some ways subtle and some ways not, they put a focus on songwriting that, whether it’s “Dead Weight” or “Progeneration” or “Demon Behemoth,” produces memorable results.
They were a band with potential, and so they remain. They don’t at all sound like they’re done growing, but Hope is Heavy does benefit from lessons gleaned from Wyrd Syster, and in thinking about where they might go for a third long-player, one hopes nothing so much as that Acid Magus continue to develop on the path they’ve set for themselves. That would be the best-case scenario, and they seem to know it, having come into a make-or-break moment for the band with a collection of songs ready to answer the question in decisive fashion: make.
“Dead Weight” video premieres below. Hope is Heavy is out now. More info follows from the PR wire.
Please enjoy:
Acid Magus, “Dead Weight (Feat. Johni Holiday)” video premiere
Buy / Stream Hope Is Heavy:
https://orcd.co/hope-is-heavy
https://acidmagus.bandcamp.com/album/hope-is-heavy
Get ready to be entranced by the dark, thought-provoking soundscape as South Africa’s own progressive doom virtuosos Acid Magus unleash their latest masterpiece — a riveting music video for their track Dead Weight from their critically acclaimed new album Hope Is Heavy out now on Mongrel Records. This release delves into the heart of modern popular culture’s relentless imitation game, challenging conventions and inviting viewers to question the status quo. To amplify the impact, the track features a captivating guest vocals appearance from none other than the esteemed frontman Johni Holiday from prominent South African stoner rock sensations Ruff Majik.
Johni takes on a dual role, gracing the track with his unmistakable voice while also embodying the main antagonist in the music video. In a stunning visual portrayal, he assumes the role of a vampire, reigning as a corporate overlord in a dystopian, cutthroat business environment.
Featuring 6 tracks, the album explores themes of existentialism, introspection, and the human condition. The band’s poetic lyrics delve into profound and introspective territories, inviting listeners to explore the depths of their own psyche.
“As time passed and I grew older, I found myself becoming depressed for no reason other than for the fact that I was becoming a bitter cynic. ‘Hope is Heavy’ is me trying to find that elusive light at the end of the ever present, gloomy tunnel.” – Keenan Kinnear, guitarist/songwriter.
Track Listing:
1. Demon Behemoth
2. Progeneration
3. Caligulater
4. A Planet, A Deathstar
5. Dead Weight (ft. Johni Holiday)
6. Trillion Tonne Sun
Line Up:
Keenan Kinnear: guitar
Jarryd Wood: bass guitar
Roelof van Tonder: drums
Anrico Jeske: vocals
Brendon Bezuidenhout: guitar, vocals
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