Band : Zimmers Hole

Album title : When You Were Shouting At The Devil...We Were In League With Satan

Label : Century Media

Distributor: EMI

Release date : 17/03/2008

Release : CD

Yes, oh yéés...rejoice, Metal fans of all nations, because Metal's most hilarious...but also most fierce...are finally back with another album!

Formed back in 1991 by current Strapping Young Lad members Jed Simon (guitar & vocals, also active with Tenet , where he's joined by ex -Death drummer Gene Hoglan , former Grip Inc. bassist Stuart Carruthers , and ex- Sacrifice singer Rob Urbinati ) and Byron Stroud (bass & vocals, and a member of Fear Factory since December 2003) plus other acqaintances of the duo as a pure pass-time during weekends, whereby the boys would get together, drink far too much, and write truly absurd and over-the-top lyrics with Metal and Rock 'n' Roll clichés as a basis. Musically, they were very akin to Strapping Young Lad , and it is therefore no surprise that they eventually joined that band in 1994 (the more because both are based in Vancouver, Canada). Occasional tours (during which the duo was fortified with lead singer Chris Valagao and drummer Steve Wheeler ) with either SYL and The Devin Townsend Band made the band's popularity.

Zimmers Hole (or affectionally, just " The Hole " will do) eventually found the time to record & release their first album Bound By Fire (under productional guidance of SYL 's Devin Townsend under the alias of Dr. Skinny , who'd by then gotten a well-deserved reputation as a first-class recording/ mixing engineer) in 1999, and immediately found a horde of hungry North-Americans goin' to their record shops to buy the album. Re-issued with bonus tracks in 2003 by Century Media , some (still sealed) copies of the original album still often find their way on E-bay . A follow-up with 2001's Legion Of Flames , which became the first ZH I reviewed for Concrete Web (it wasn't my introduction to the band though, as some 8 months before I'd managed to get ahold of their debut), released on Townsend 's own HevyDevy label and distributed by Century Media (get the connection for the re-release of the debut?).

The time after that release became a truly busy one for both key members of ZH . During 2002, ZH singer Chris Valagao would be added to the SYL line-up (he's done additional vocals before on the 1996 SYL album, as well as on Devin Townsend 's 1997 Ocean Machine/ Biomech , and did the same on the Devin Townsend side-project Punky Brüster 's 1996 Cooked On Phonics , which included guset appearances from his fellow SYL bandmembers) as keyboard player/ backing singer, but the venture didn't hold (later, Valagao would again feature as backing vocalist to SYL 's 2006 The Black Years ). That same year Simon formed Tenet (to which guitarist Glen Alvelais , formerly with Forbidden , Bizarro , and Testament , would be added). Following a 3-track self-titled demo, recorded in 2003, Tenet recorded the Devin Townsend produced the band's (unreleased to date as far as I know) debut album Sovereign during 2007. Then of course Stroud would be occupied with Fear Factory .

In August 2007 ZH signed an individual contract with Century Media for the release of their upcoming album (this one), leading to Stroud and Simon deciding to give ZH their undevided attention for a while. With no less than 19 possible songs on the table, the guys eventually took down 11 wonderfully anthemic tracks for the album. Along the way they apparently lost drummer Steve Wheeler , because drum credits on this album go to Gene Hoglan . Otherwise the material is just as exciting as ever, the lyrical topics just as hilariously humorous! As allways you'll get your sexual songs ( "Anonimous Esophagus" to deal with the Rock myth of eledged back-stage sex games known as "cock-sucking", and "Fista Corpse" , also has ties to necrophilism), some that's geared towards the eledged Satanistic side of the Metal genre (title track, also album opener, plus "Devil's Mouth ", and possibly also album closer "What's My Name...Evil!" ; haven't had time to check the lyrics yet, see, but the title sure is revelational enough, and so's the disturbing sounds displayed on it). Other topics are Metal's fascinations with violence ( "Hair Doesn't Grow On Metal" ), supremacy ( "We Rule The Fucking Land" , and "1312 "; Belgians know what that date means), and Fantasy ( "Flight Of The Night Bat" , which also follows in the steps of Satanism somewhat). Even a really serious topic like analphabetism in modern times (the link being that Hard Rock and Metal fanatics are often seen as intellectual morons, you see?) gets toyed with by these thoroughly funny guys.

Of course, it's not just the lyrical themes that make ZH into the incredibly wonderful band they are. Besides the incredibly catchy and Progressive Heavy Metal which is not devoid of an extra dose of aggression and brutality (just listen to Strapping Young Lad for reference, although ZH is geared even more to Heavy Metal)...there's also the vocal prowess of not only the lead singer (who can not only get to really soaring highs, but also puts in some extraordinary deep growls and more Thrashy styles singing), but also of the Death Metal styled backings and other various vocal utterings by both Stroud and Simon . To get some audio examples of what these words actually grow out to mean, surf to myspace.com/zimmershole, where you'll find an mp3 file for the new album's title track, as well as a total of 5 songs off the other albums (mainly from the second, and you'll find 2 additional   tracks off that album at lastfm.com/music/Zimmer's+Hole. More tracks off the new label may become available once the band has finished re-designing their website zimmershole.net and put it back on-line). Enough to get you a good example of what this band sounds like and get you hooked to seek out any material from the band, for sure. In my book, they are absolute top class, and anything they release features in the "Best Albums" lists of that year!

On a positive note, the band has cracked the top 10 most requested song playlist at Canada's Sirius satellite radio's Hard Attack show (check it out at sirius.com/hardattack). On a not so positive note, Zimmers Hole is gonna have to do without its founder member Jed Simon for a while, as two members of his immediate family are currently battling with heath issues, and he needs to concentrate on his family right now. But Jed himself suggested that the band seek out a good temporary replacement and go out there to promote the album live, promising to rejoin his gang when possible. So in comes Dave Teague (whom was taken into the fold with the joke " Teague Is In The League"...get the pun, seen the album title?), formerly a member of Angry Samoans , The Dimwits , Muzza Chunka , and The Dickies to name but a few, and a man with a great love for all that is Metal! For the first time being, it's with him on stage you'll see ZH perform (no European dates set yet, but I have high hopes!)

98/100

Tony.