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CD REVIEW Zenithal |
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Band : Zenithal According to recorded history, Margate (UK) based Thrash Metal act display an incredible energy and intensity on stage and, by jolly, having listened to their sophomore album I can confirm that they can portray that on album too! But hey, before I get into a short history-of-the-band, let me tell you right off that Zenithal ain’t quite your typical Thrash Metal band! The band got together in 2005, with singer James Edward Scott writing songs and a few riffs and Graeme Van De Merwe on drums. Graeme being hugely influenced by the likes of Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy, it was almost inevitable that progressive elements crept into the first recordings, thus deviating from the originally intended Thrash Metal direction. A harder and more Thrashy element was attained when guitarist Rob Musgrove joined. For a next move, the band enlisted Matias Duarte, a finger-playing bassist whom had the capacity to pick up a riff after been shown only once or twice. The band, then still called Samarium, then felt they needed a second guitarist to get closer to the sound they sought..and that’s when Tim Capper came in, himself pursuing the same goal as the others, namely to play Old-Skool Metal with a slight modern twist. A first outing of that in recorded form came with the band’s 2006 self-released 6-track EP-demo Mad Shadows. However, Matias at one moment wanted to concentrate on his university studies in music and sound engineering, so he left the band in May of 2007. Luckily Paul Roberts of the band Devicate, a good friend of the band, stepped in to continue where his predecessor left off…and the band was able to continue their onslaught on British stages! It was almost inevitable that a clever Indie label such as Casket Music/ Copro Records would eventually catch up with the band and sign ‘em for the May 2008 release of their label debut full-length Vendetta (essencially, the full-length was the demo, plus 3 new songs recorded in late August 2007 – so in fact the albums was simply waiting around to be released). Info lacking, I’ve no idea how Zenithal fared after the release of their debut album (which never got to us, possibly because back in the days there were a couple of guys with “long fingers” working at Belgium’s Postal offices in Brussels, where all abroad mail converges before being sent off towards the individual provinces), but today the band is back with 8 new songs for a total playing time of 38 minutes (give 2 seconds), recorded at Copro’s own Philia Studios with none other than the famed Dave Chang behind the knobs as producer. Oh, and a good thing I just checked the booklet of my promo copy for more info, because what do I see but that the band has gone through a line-up change with the replacement of Capper by one Matt Barwell!? Barwell also contributed greatly to the writing process, creating the lead guitar parts of a major part of the album. And talking about lead guitar work, thàt is exactly one of the points where Zenithal differs from most run-of-the-mill Thrash Metal bands. You see, you’ve got yourself twó lead guitarists here, each with his own style of solo play. While the one is a more classic Rock/ Metal guitarist, the other is a true Shred artist. On top, you get a bassist heavily influenced by Death Metal obliterating each stage the band plays on merely with his stage presence (he’s kind of a big fellow too), a drummer whom not only lays down the firm foundation for the rest but also ties everything together, and a singer whom is fittingly described as “…remeniscent of Phil Anselmo on speed, jumping about like a pure adrenaline energy bomb…” (sic). At myspace.com/zenithal1 (also the band’s official webspace), you’ll only find the new album’s title track as an example of this unique band’s magnificence (so perhaps the uncertain people among you will wanna check out more samples of the band’s music – there’s links for videos and towards the band’s pages at Pure Volume and Insigned.com), but really that one song is very representative for what you’re about to get on the complete album! Thrash Metal fans with a yearn for a fresh touch in their favourite musical genre should by all means check this out (huh…I bet even a fair amountt of one-sided Thrash fans will like what this band offers!). 90/100 Tony. |
