Post by thesoundmonitor on Apr 9, 2004 21:40:14 GMT -5
ZEN
The Sound of Shit Happening
(GMR Music Group)
The first track on the album definitely threw me for a while. It's this crazy sounding mix of a preacher yelling, a few repeated guitar lines and other random samples -think the craziness of some of Ministry’s experimental songs. I had read that Alex Hellid from Entombed produced the album so I wasn't entirely surprised with this, but what I was surprised with was the rest of the album; mainly dark rock with a heavy dose of blues.
There is a lot of variety on the album and it never gets boring. The album ranges from sounding like an upbeat Nick Cave to The Screaming Trees to Black Sabbath to The Blues Brothers to Alice in Chains to Gospel Blues. The album has this cool dark feel to it and uses lots of varied instruments, sounds and samples to get effect. Without having heard Mark Lanegan's solo band I could easily see this being his style. This is not something I would have expected to come out of Sweden. It sounds like it would have come from Southern USA.
'In the Shade' sounds a bit like one of the laid back songs off Alice in Chains self-titled album with a slight touch of Kyuss chucked in. The last track 'Sun Circle' reminds me of ‘Alien Blueprint’ by Rollins Band. It's a laidback cruisy sort of song with a dark undertone to it. The Rollins link might come back to the sound of the drums too.
If you like a heavy shot of blues with your rock this is definitely something that will grab you. Even fans of Mark Lanegan's songs on QOTSA's Songs for the Deaf should give this one a chance. Zen has a pretty damn cool album here but I think I’ll be skipping the first track most of the time.
By Nathan Peauril
www.gmrmusic.se
The Sound of Shit Happening
(GMR Music Group)
The first track on the album definitely threw me for a while. It's this crazy sounding mix of a preacher yelling, a few repeated guitar lines and other random samples -think the craziness of some of Ministry’s experimental songs. I had read that Alex Hellid from Entombed produced the album so I wasn't entirely surprised with this, but what I was surprised with was the rest of the album; mainly dark rock with a heavy dose of blues.
There is a lot of variety on the album and it never gets boring. The album ranges from sounding like an upbeat Nick Cave to The Screaming Trees to Black Sabbath to The Blues Brothers to Alice in Chains to Gospel Blues. The album has this cool dark feel to it and uses lots of varied instruments, sounds and samples to get effect. Without having heard Mark Lanegan's solo band I could easily see this being his style. This is not something I would have expected to come out of Sweden. It sounds like it would have come from Southern USA.
'In the Shade' sounds a bit like one of the laid back songs off Alice in Chains self-titled album with a slight touch of Kyuss chucked in. The last track 'Sun Circle' reminds me of ‘Alien Blueprint’ by Rollins Band. It's a laidback cruisy sort of song with a dark undertone to it. The Rollins link might come back to the sound of the drums too.
If you like a heavy shot of blues with your rock this is definitely something that will grab you. Even fans of Mark Lanegan's songs on QOTSA's Songs for the Deaf should give this one a chance. Zen has a pretty damn cool album here but I think I’ll be skipping the first track most of the time.
By Nathan Peauril
www.gmrmusic.se