Review / 200 Words Or Less
Acid Fast
Rabid Moon

Protagonist (2014) Nathan G. O'Brien

Acid Fast – Rabid Moon cover artwork
Acid Fast – Rabid Moon — Protagonist, 2014

Acid Fast play really angst-y yet bouncy punk rock that is rooted as deeply in the Midwest sound as it is the Pacific Northwest. But here’s the thing: they’re not from Olympia or Minneapolis or Portland or Chicago; they’re from Oakland. But goddamn, if they don’t sound like a band that came up playing damp basements alongside The SoviettesRVIVR, Mean Jeans, or The Brokedowns. At times it’s a bit imitative but that’s easily forgivable since it’s also incredibly charming thanks to the melodic male-female vocal tradeoff, and really rockin’ because of the fuzzy bass, driving drums, and spirited guitar.

It’s the awesomely-named Hannah Conda’s presence on Rabid Moon that really keeps the album from treading too far into derivative wearisomeness. Although it works quite well when she is adding backups to Frank Mann’s best Blake Schwarzenbach-like lead vocals, the standout songs are the ones where she takes center stage. Songs like “Old Idea”, “Rupert”, and “Tease” are heart string-y numbers whose lo-fi melodies conjure memories of any number of female-fronted ‘90s alt-rock darlings as much as they do the modern masters like Gateway District.

Rabid Moon strikes me as the kind of release that will either fly largely under the radar, adored only by the underground, or will end up catching the ear of some big shot taste-making webzine and blowing the F up. (You’re welcome.) It’s a damn fine record, and although stylistically very different, is right up there with Iron Hand’s Injected Fear and Brain F≠’s Empty Set as one of best punk full-lengths of the year so far.

Acid Fast – Rabid Moon cover artwork
Acid Fast – Rabid Moon — Protagonist, 2014

Related news

Hear "Tangle" from Acid Fast

Posted in MP3s on December 17, 2013

Recently-posted album reviews

Sexfaces

Bad Vibes OST
Slovenly (2025)

Best thing about writing reviews is finding out about new stuff that I otherwise might not have heard. Also writing reviews for bands that aren’t friends of mine is pretty cool but when I hear a band I really like, like Sex Faces, it makes me want to be friends with them, I can't help it! I’m not even halfway … Read more

Unseemlier

I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere
Sell The Heart Records (2025)

What does Unseemlier sound like? I've been mulling that question as I listen to I Have A Screw Loose, Somewhere for a while now. As I listen to more and more Sell The Heart releases, The band is from Boston, but seemingly influenced by late '80s DC. It's heavy, but more with hardcore-like vocals shouted over moving, building guitars and … Read more

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more