by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer —
There are glimpses of earnest striving on this collection of demos, jams and half-baked ideas, which is, curiously, packaged and presented as a finished album. But a finished album it is not, with both material and production at their tadpole stages, and with the band dropping a heavy hint about how proud they are of the end result by withholding their surnames from the credits.
Speaking of pride, there is, however, plenty of it on this record – mostly in the late Sixties / early Seventies British rock heritage, with special reverence toward Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath: the ostinato riffs, the quasi-mystical protracted instrumental extrapolations, and the deadpan seriousness with which the band is imitating the epic aspirations of the legendary visionaries.
Visionaries themselves they are not, and going for unsmiling mimicry of the British rock’s glorious past ends up in predictable, heard-it-all-before, desperately retro renditions of the classic touchstones that are impossible to copy these days – even by the very people who created them, never mind the fans and the devotees. This is perhaps the greatest lesson of this release, proving the sad truism that you can’t enter the same river twice.
What makes the axiom even more poignant is that the band has a knack for no-nonsense songwriting, and knows how to come up with propulsive grooves, tasteful guitar leads and inspired melodies. This could all come in handy when (and if) they decide to abandon the imitations and concentrate on becoming themselves. Which would hopefully result in another record of finished – this time – tunes with real professionals involved in the recording and mixing process. But prior to that a giant leap of faith is in order – faith that the band’s own inner realities and their own experiences could be as valid as those of their mythical heroes who have roared 40 years ago about things this album is mumbling about.
Genre: Rock
Line-up:
Hank – bass
Luca – drums
Jim – guitars
Jad – vocals
Track Listing:
1. Bastinado
2. Necessary Evil
3. Only the Lonely
4. The Joke is on Us
5. Better off Dead
6. Seems Like Better Times
7. Who’s the Fool (Part One)
8. Bad Pills
9. Making an Enemy
10. Lights on Blues
Label: STM Records
Online: http://www.myspace.com/zodiacnblack
Hardrock Haven rating: 5.5/10
