Acid (Belgian band)

Lore & Background

Guitarist Demon, singer Kate de Lombaert and bassist T-Bone started the band as Precious Page, which was renamed Acid in 1980. Shortly after, Anvill joined as drummer. When Dizzy Lizzy joined the band as the second guitarist, the band recorded its first single. It was released in July 1982 under the name "Hell on Wheels" through Roadrunner Records. The first self-titled album followed in January 1983. The second album Maniac followed the same year, followed by the third album Engine Beast in 1985. Shortly after this, the band broke up. During their career, the band played in Belgium, the Netherlands and France and performed with groups such as Black Sabbath, Manowar, Loudness, Venom, Picture, Bodine and Motörhead. In 2019, the band reformed.

Reader's Guide

According to AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia, the band initially devoted themselves to heavy metal, before moving on to thrash metal shortly after, during which they were influenced by Venom and Raven. Rivadavia labelled the debut album as speed metal. According to Martin Popoff in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties, Acid's double bass is reminiscent of Motörhead. According to thethrashmetalguide.com, the band was a pioneer of speed and thrash metal, as they were the first band alongside Anvil to show the aggressive side of this scene. Besides Girlschool, it was also one of the first bands in the scene with a female singer.

Did You Know?

• The band's debut single "Hell on Wheels" was released in July 1982 through Roadrunner Records.
• Acid performed with Black Sabbath, Manowar, Venom, and Motörhead during their career.
• The band reformed in 2019.

From Precious Page to Acid: A Bruges Beginning

The story of Acid begins in the city of Bruges, Belgium, where a group of musicians first assembled under the name Precious Page. Guitarist Donald Devers, known as Demon, vocalist Kate de Lombaert, and bassist Peter, who went by the stage name T-Bone, laid the groundwork for what would become a landmark act in European metal. In 1980, the trio rebranded themselves as Acid, and the project quickly gained momentum. Drummer Geert, performing as Anvill, joined the lineup shortly after the name change, solidifying the rhythm section. The final piece fell into place when Dirk Simoens, billed as Dizzy Lizzy, came aboard as a second guitarist. With the full five-member configuration in place, the band recorded their debut single, "Hell on Wheels," which saw the light of day in July 1982 on Roadrunner Records. This early burst of activity in a small Belgian city would soon put Acid on the map as one of the first mainland European acts to embrace the aggressive energy of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

A Prolific Run and Sudden End

Acid's creative output was remarkably compressed into a brief window. After their 1982 single, the band delivered their self-titled debut album in January 1983, followed almost immediately by the second record, Maniac, later that same year. Their third and final studio album, Engine Beast, arrived in 1985, and shortly thereafter the group disbanded. Between these releases, the band also issued the Lucifera single, the Black Car EP, and a split recording titled Metal Prisoners alongside Chinawite, Seducer, and Factory on Mausoleum Records. Several demos from 1981 and 1982 documented their early rehearsal sessions. On the live front, Acid toured extensively across Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, sharing stages with heavyweight acts including Black Sabbath, Manowar, Loudness, Venom, Picture, Bodine, and Motörhead. A 2009 release, Live in Belgium '84 on Femetal, preserved a snapshot of their live energy from that period. The sheer density of releases packed into roughly three years of active recording speaks to a band operating at full throttle before their untimely split.

Pioneers of Speed and Thrash on the Continent

Acid occupies a unique position in the history of European heavy metal. As one of the first bands on the European mainland to channel the ferocity of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they helped transplant a distinctly British sound to the continent. According to AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia, the group began with a straightforward heavy metal approach before pivoting toward thrash, drawing inspiration from Venom and Raven. Rivadavia specifically categorized their debut as speed metal. Martin Popoff, in his Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties, noted that T-Bone's double-bass work evoked the raw punch of Motörhead. The Thrash Metal Guide credits Acid, alongside Anvil, as the first acts to showcase the aggressive edge of the emerging scene. Equally notable is the fact that Kate de Lombaert's presence at the microphone made Acid one of the very few bands in the genre—besides Girlschool—to feature a female vocalist during that era, a distinction that set them apart in an overwhelmingly male-dominated field.

Collector's Status and the 2019 Reunion

The brief but intense career of Acid left behind a catalog that has since acquired a special place among metal collectors. Their records, pressed in limited runs on labels like Giant Records and Roadrunner, have become sought-after items within the broader metal community, a testament to the band's early influence and the scarcity of their output. The split release with Chinawite, Seducer, and Factory, along with the various demos from 1981 and 1982, further adds to the rarity of their discography. After more than three decades of silence following their post-Engine Beast breakup, the original members reunited in 2019, bringing together Kate de Lombaert, Demon, Dizzy Lizzy, T-Bone, and Anvill under the Acid banner once again. This reformation allowed a new generation of listeners to experience firsthand the speed and thrash energy that had made the Bruges-based group a pioneering force in the early 1980s, reaffirming their lasting significance in the lineage of European heavy metal.

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