Current Members:
Bryan Erickson (a.k.a. Hexfix93, Disease Factory) - lead vocals, composition, guitar, lyrics, mixing, production, various
Early projects, early changes, and first albums (1990–1995)
In the early 1990s, Erickson and Grigory, both residents of Colorado, brought together their shared interest in creating music to record a series of demos. With the addition of Gary Slaughter and Chris Workman, the group attempted several bands, including Disease Disco Factory, a parody of then-popular Dance group C+C Music Factory. Following a turbulent period for Erickson and Slaughter, Workman left the group. Slaughter and Erickson experimented with two new side-projects, Cyber Christ and Vortex. Cyber Christ explored a harsh and melancholy sound that was a sharp contrast to the group's other projects. When Erickson discovered that the term "Cyber Christ" had been used in the 1992 film The Lawnmower Man, he renamed the band Velvet Acid Christ in honor of a bad acid trip. The Vortex project was merged into Velvet Acid Christ to form one body of work.
In 1994, Workman returned to assist with the band's self-produced gothic-styled demo tape, Fate. Given encouraging response from friends, the band followed up with other self-produced albums, 1994's Pestilence, a dance-oriented album, and 1995's Neuralblastoma, a harder-sounding album.
Erickson, along with friends and minor contributors Steve Bird and Dan Olson, started the brief-lived record label Electro Death Trip (EDT) Records to better promote these recordings. In 1995, the three began distributing hand-made CD copies of Fate, Pestilence, and Neuralblastoma for resale in local music shops.
Label interest, touring, and a troubled rise (1996–2000)
Slaughter and Workman temporarily left the band during the first half of 1996 as Erickson continued the project alone, handing out copies of Velvet Acid Christ's recordings to industry representatives, including musician Bill Leeb of industrial pioneer Front Line Assembly. Leeb passed the music to Thorsten Stroht, a media promoter with European label Off-Beat Records. Off-Beat A&R negotiated a deal with the band.
For their first Off-Beat release, the group submitted 1996's Church of Acid, a compilation of selected tracks from Velvet Acid Christ's first three albums with an additional two new tracks, Disflux and Futile. Church of Acid was well received in Europe, and Futile became a regularly played track in many nightclubs across the continent. In 1997, United States label Pendragon Records released Church of Acid in America, though the two new tracks were removed due to a lack of trademark clearance for television samples used in the songs.
The band's next album, Calling Ov the Dead, was rejected by Off-Beat for not sounding edgy enough, prompting Slaughter's permanent departure. With the assistance of Bird and Olson, the band addressed the label's concerns and released Calling Ov the Dead in late 1997, with American distribution following through Pendragon in 1998. In the process, Erickson had accumulated a substantial financial debt.
With a line-up consisting of Erickson, Stroht and German musician Ingo Beitz, the band toured Europe in 1998 with Off-Beat label-mate Suicide Commando, which attracted the attention of Metropolis Records, the largest industrial label in United States. The parent label of Pendragon, Metropolis distributed the album Neuralblastoma, as a partnership that would endure.
Velvet Acid Christ spent the majority of 1999 in the studio, first collaborating with Germany's Funker Vogt on a remix EP entitled Velvet Acid Christ Vs Funker Vogt: The Remix Assault, then shifting to Velvet Acid Christ's next full-length recording, Fun With Knives. With Workman an occasional contributor, Erickson sought production assistance on Fun With Knives from the bands Luxt and 4th New Army. Fun with Knives, released by Metropolis and new Off-Beat sub-label dependent, became the band's best-selling album. Sales were propelled by the singles Decypher and Fun with Drugs, and by the track Slut, which featured vocals from Luxt's Anna Christine.
In spite of the success of the band, stress had led Erickson into depression and increased drug abuse, which channeled into the creation of the band's next album, Twisted Thought Generator. Simultaneously, the band toured Europe with industrial acts Project X and Stromkern and toured the United States and Canada with bands Din_Fiv and Haujobb. The line-up of the band during this period was unstable. Workman, citing a conversion to Christianity, resigned from the band with a request that his name be retracted from all previous albums. The first leg of the European tour consisted of Erickson, Bird and Stroht; the second leg, Erickson and Olson. The North American tour was performed by Erickson, Stroht and drummer Paul Lipman. With various contributors, Erickson completed Twisted Thought Generator. Due to lingering disputes, he withdrew the band from Dependent Records and submitted the album to Metropolis.
A change of pace, new early material, and beyond (2001– present)
Erickson placed Velvet Acid Christ on a short hiatus in 2001, as he abandoned his dependence on drugs in favour of exercise and a vegan raw foodist diet. Newly clean, Erickson created the 2003 album Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia. Though critical response was mixed, Hex Angel: Utopia/Dystopia ranked #1 on Germany's Deutsche Alternative Charts (DAC) for four weeks after its release, and the album's single Pretty Toy reached #18 on the Billboard Alternative Chart during the same year. The album also marked the band's short-lived return to Dependent Records.
Erickson spent 2004 releasing and reissuing some of Velvet Acid Christ's earliest material. With the four-volume compilation series Between the Eyes, the band published a collection of its singles and B-sides, then followed with subsequent re-releases of Fate (Vol. 2), Pestilence (Vol. 3), and Neuralblastoma (Vol. 4). The band also offered free MP3 downloads of Dimension 8 and Oblivion Interface on its website until early 2005. Dimension 8, which had been available as a hidden bonus on Twisted Thought Generator, and Oblivion Interface (informally known as Between the Eyes, Vol. 5) provided fans with previously unheard work from the Cyber Christ-Vortex era of 1991–1994.
In 2005, Erickson collaborated with guitarist Todd Loomis on a new album, Lust for Blood, which was released on September 26, 2006. With Lust for Blood, the crew labored intensively to create a new overall sound while maintaining the band's original characteristics. Following its release, Lust for Blood ranked at the top of Germany's DAC for four weeks; the album's single release, Wound, ranked on the DAC's singles chart for eight weeks and held the #1 position for four weeks.
In 2009, Erickson began to create the next LP with minimal input from Loomis this time when he was working on his project The Twilight Garden. The result was The Art of Breaking Apart, released October 27, 2009. This LP was a tribute to bands like Current 93 and Death in June and brought VAC many new fans while making the others angry at the new direction of the music.
In 2010–2011, Bryan Erickson teamed up with William Anderson of Louisiana. William did a ton of sampling, and Bryan made a bunch of VAC B-sides that turned into Toxic Coma tracks. The project had a revolving door of members, again Bryan being the main constant. They released a LP entitled Satan Rising under Toxic Coma on Metropolis Records. It fused the techno sound of Fun With Knives and the brutal black humor of Toxic Coma. Erickson then began to write more music for future VAC LPs.
In October 2012, Velvet Acid Christ released their tenth LP entitled Maldire. The release marked a return to the dark electronic sound. Erickson formed a live band and toured extensively (2012-2014) to support the album. The latest album entitled Subconscious Landscapes was released October 28, 2014. A remastered Greatest Hits compilation was released by Metropolis Records on May 6, 2016.
Discography:
Studio Albums
1994 - Fate
1994 - Pestilence
1995 - Neuralblastoma
1997 - Calling Ov the Dead
1999 - Fun With Knives
2000 - Twisted Thought Generator
2003 - Hex Angel (Utopia/Dystopia)
2006 - Lust for Blood
2009 - The Art of Breaking Apart
2012 - Maldire
2014 - Subconscious Landscapes
Compilations / Demos / EPs / Singles
1992 - Oblivion Interface (demo re-released in 2004)
1993 - Dimension 8 (demo re-released in 2000)
1996 - Church of Acid (1994-1995 compilation)
1998 - Neuralblastoma (1994-1995 compilation)
1999 - Fun With Razors (remix EP)
1999 - Decipher (maxi-single)
1999 - Fun With Drugs (maxi-single)
1999 - The Remix Wars: Strike 4: Funker Vogt vs. Velvet Acid Christ (remix EP)
2001 - Dial 8 (maxi-single)
2003 - Pretty Toy (maxi-single)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 1 (singles compilation)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 2 (re-release of Fate)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 3 (re-release of Pestilence)
2004 - Between the Eyes Vol. 4 (re-release of Neuroblastoma)
2006 - Wound (maxi-single)
2009 - Caustic Disco (maxi-single)
2016 - Greatest Hits (remastered compilation)
Exquisite Stench
Velvet Acid Christ Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Call subversive infiltration
Live with a lie
Crush your head
Cause it's dead
Transmutation
Mutilation
Rip apart the fucking nation
Dead flesh or another dream
They push your head
Into the ground
Feel it slipping around
Your mind belongs to the state
Your body suffers extreme fate
A trauma victim burning
Now you can see their yearning
Dead run vision of a safe place
In the void of life
We lie we never ask why no
You feel a gun in your hand
Point and aim
You blow out their brains
Tried tried you're feeling pain in the back
All over again
All over again
Twisting and pulling out your hair
Another trauma victim
Locked up into the final stage of pain and torturing
A bullet to the fucking heart
Floating in the void of the libido
Into a void of your mind
Forever steal time
They operate on you
Pull out the new bold time warp
A transmission
A falling vision
All night the falling knife
To restructure
The form of life
Transmission all night
The vision of truth in space and time
The lyrics to Velvet Acid Christ's song Exquisite Stench represent a dystopian outlook on society, with themes of oppression, violence, and control. The opening lines "Tear apart the nation, call subversive infiltration" suggest the use of violence and manipulation in order to maintain control. The line "Your mind belongs to the state, your body suffers extreme fate" further emphasizes this idea of control, with the government having complete power over its citizens. It can also be interpreted as a critique of a society that values conformity over individuality, as people are forced to live a lie and suppress their true selves.
The chorus is particularly haunting, with the repetition of "Dead flesh or another dream" and "Rip apart the fucking nation" reinforcing the bleakness of the song's message. The use of violent imagery, such as "Crush your head" and "A bullet to the fucking heart," further emphasizes the brutality of the world described in the song. The final lines "The vision of truth in space and time" can be seen as a glimmer of hope, suggesting that there may be a way out of this oppressive society, but it remains unclear whether this is achievable.
Overall, Exquisite Stench is an intense and unsettling song that offers a scathing commentary on society and its institutions. The vivid imagery and confrontational tone are characteristic of Velvet Acid Christ's music, and the song remains a fan favorite to this day.
Line by Line Meaning
Tear apart the nation
Destroy the country and society
Call subversive infiltration
Incite and invite underground revolutionaries
Live with a lie
Carry on with the falsehood
Crush your head
Destroy your mind and spirit
Cause it's dead
Kill the already deceased
Transmutation
Transform one form to another
Mutilation
Inflict physical and emotional harm
Rip apart the fucking nation
Violently tear apart the country
Time comes into the brain
Thoughts and memories come to mind
Dead flesh or another dream
Either dead thoughts or another prospect
They push your head
Others manipulate your thoughts
Into the ground
Put an end to your free spirit
Feel it slipping around
Sense your sanity slipping away
Your mind belongs to the state
The government controls your thoughts
Your body suffers extreme fate
You experience extreme physical harm
A trauma victim burning
You burn as a victim of tragedy
Now you can see their yearning
You understand their desires
Dead run vision of a safe place
Hallucination of a secure location
In the void of life
Amidst the emptiness of existence
We lie we never ask why no
We deceive ourselves and avoid inquisition
You feel a gun in your hand
You possess a weapon
Point and aim
Direct the firearm towards the target
You blow out their brains
You kill them
Tried tried you're feeling pain in the back
You've attempted and failed and received pain in return
All over again
Repeating the same cycle
All over again
Repeating the same cycle
Twisting and pulling out your hair
Anguishing and agonizing
Another trauma victim
Another person damaged by tragedy
Locked up into the final stage of pain and torturing
Imprisoned in a state of constant agony
A bullet to the fucking heart
A lethal gunshot wound to the heart
Floating in the void of the libido
Drifting in the emptiness of desire
Into a void of your mind
In an emptiness of the psyche
Forever steal time
Time is stolen forever
They operate on you
Doctors perform surgery on you
Pull out the new bold time warp
Unleash a new powerful timeshift
A transmission
A message or signal conveyed
A falling vision
A vivid dream or hallucination
All night the falling knife
All night the continuous pain and suffering
To restructure
To reform and reorganize
The form of life
The structure of existence
Transmission all night
Signal conveyed throughout the night
The vision of truth in space and time
Illumination of veracity in the dimensions
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Julian Cennamo
on Pain
This is a song about coping with failed relationships and a broken home. The lyricist has been triggered by a life event- most likely a breakup. The event is particularly tragic because it brings back haunting memories of fear and abandonment experienced in childhood.