After a two-year hiatus, guitarist Mike Sanchez and vocalist Dax Riggs have emerged from the ashes of Acid Bath, the Houma hardcore band that achieved some notoriety via a pair of mid-'90s albums, as the Agents of Oblivion. Sanchez already knows which Acid Bath fans will embrace their new project -- and which ones won't.

"The people who came to Acid Bath shows to slam dance and knock people out, who came up to me after the show and said, 'Hey, look, I got this busted lip, it was great' -- those are the people who won't like the new record," Sanchez said recently from Thibodeaux. "The people who enjoyed Acid Bath for the music and for what we were trying to do at the time, then they'll appreciate what we're trying to do now."

Though Agents of Oblivion are powered by Riggs and Sanchez, the same creative force behind Acid Bath, the new band's self-titled debut represents a remarkable artistic transformation, along the lines of what Days of the New frontman Travis Meeks orchestrated between his band's first and second records.

Acid Bath's two albums bristled with dirge-like, slow-crawl riffs that gave way to double-time buzz-saw guitars; Riggs bellowed like Pantera's Phil Anselmo. On "Agents of Oblivion," Riggs sings without bellowing and employs various effects to make his distinctive voice even more haunted. Sanchez layers acoustic guitars and experiments with a broader palette of colors and tones. "Agents of Oblivion" is a surprisingly poised, ambitious and dramatic record, hinting at Alice In Chains as well as the more opaque rock of the 1970s.

During an all-ages CD-release party tonight at the State Palace Theatre, Agents of Oblivion plans to focus on the new album, possibly augmenting it with a cover of the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun," while avoiding the harder Acid Bath material.

Sanchez and Riggs began their collaboration a decade ago, when Riggs was a Morgan City high schooler. As Acid Bath, they criss-crossed the country on punishing, low- or no-budget tours. The band had already begun to splinter when bassist Audie Pitre and his parents were killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver in January, 1997.

Acid Bath played its final shows with a new bassist, but Sanchez and Riggs' hearts weren't in it. "People weren't comfortable with each other any more," Sanchez said. "We had to take care of ourselves on the road -- there was nobody but us. When you spend that much time with people, you know them pretty well. When you lose somebody, and the new guy tries to put in his input . .

So they went their separate ways. After two years of writing material individually, Sanchez and Riggs reconnected and began to assemble a new band. Several false starts later, they settled on a line-up that includes keyboardist Chuck Pitre (no relation to Audie), drummer Jeff McCarty and bassist Alex Bergeron.

As Agents of Oblivion, they are still contractually bound to Rotten Records, the label that issued Acid Bath's two albums. Operating with a shoestring budget, they cut "Agents of Oblivion" in 13 days. While Sanchez correctly notes that a more substantial budget would have improved the production, the 13 tracks articulate their new outlook -- which Sanchez says was their intention all along.

It was Rotten Records, says Sanchez, that steered Acid Bath's music in a heavier direction -- and also insisted they use clown sketches by serial killer John Wayne Gacy on the cover of their 1994 debut, "When the Kite Strings Pop."

"All that really sucked," Sanchez said. "That was the record company. They wanted us to do this serial killer bulls -- t, and I'm not down with that. I was never into that really heavy stuff -- it's pretty ironic that I was in Acid Bath. 'Agents of Oblivion' is the material that Dax and I have wanted to do since '94. We didn't have this type of material written back then, but it's what we wanted to do. The stuff we always preferred was more soulful."

On their new album, they cover the T. Rex song "Cosmic Dancer" and remake "Dead Girl," a track from the second Acid Bath release. The titles of the 11 new compositions -- "The Hangman's Daughter," "Ashes of the Mind," "Wither" -- might create the impression that the record is a grim affair. It is somber at times, but also introspective, contemplative, abstract and trippy; "Anthem (For This Haunted City)" paints impressions of an acid-fueled trip to New Orleans years ago.

"Some people may think the album is kind of somber," Sanchez said. "That's OK, I guess. Somber's not such a bad thing sometimes." Now comes the matter of selling it. Last year Agents of Oblivion signed with the same manager who handles Houma blues guitarist Tab Benoit. They're hoping he shores up other aspects of their business.

"We're trying to find good booking agents, good promoters, good people to work with, so we can go out and really do something this time," Sanchez said. "Not just go to North Dakota and play in front of 17 kids when its 23 below zero. That's the thing we want to stay away from. We want to stay away from the $50 a night. I can make 10 bucks a night here -- I'll just go downtown and put my hat out.

"Being in Acid Bath before, I don't know if it gives us an edge, or if it dulls it. A lot of the shows we've been doing (in Louisiana) have new people -- we don't see a lot of the old fans. We have to find the kind of people who like this music."

Originally published February 11, 2000 © 2000, The Times-Picayune.

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