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Mirco Szymyslik

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ZARATHUSTRA
Perpetual Black Force
(Undercover Records)
43:17min

People in need of a furious dose of individual sounding Black / Thrash should definitely give ZARATHUSTRA a serious chance. The production is pretty good for an underground release - quite transparent and powerful - the song writing skills of the infernal German quintet have improved as well and varies between storming aggression and almost epic feeling. Personally I sometimes feel reminded of old DESASTER or Australian warriors GOSPEL OF THE HORNS, DESTRÖYER 666 (maybe due to the fact that DESTRÖYER 666's drummer plays in ZARATHUSTRA as well) and everyone into those bands should get along with ZARATHUSTRA pretty well. After the band's last effort "Dogma Antichrist" in 2000 a couple of line up changes seem to have been slowing down the work on the new album, but after a resurfacing with the 7" EP "Nihilistic Terror" in 2003, ZARATHUSTRA are back again with full force and the new album's title might not only refer to this process, but undoubtedly summarises what ZARATHUSTRA are right now - a vicous black force which deserves to perpetuate! Songs like 'Mass Execution' or 'Dynasty Of The Eternal Ones' are rousing attacks from hell, which combine hymnic melodies and driving speed and are just fucking great Metal! The vocals of "Satan's Whore" Hurricane might have been better if they'd be less screamy, but that's a matter of taste and should keep you from trying out this upcoming band. Visit www.undercover-records.de for additional information and MP3... The CD is also on sale here.

Stefan Franke

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ZARATHUSTRA
In Hora Mortis
(Agonia Records)
47:27min

I follow this German horde since their very first album and I can only say their evolution has been really impressive. From raw Black Metal, going to a more thrashy style and finally aquiring some Swedish influences on their previous EP, "Contempt", recorded at Necromorbus Studios in Sweden, and which included a great cover of the German Thrash cult act POISON. This time they've chosen the same studio again, so the sound of this recording reminds, again, a bit on the sound of bands like WATAIN or ONDSKAPT, but without any doubt the main reference here is DISSECTION, which already was on "Contempt", but not as much as it is now. I could even say this is one of their best heirs. Anyways, this is not the next copy of Swedish masters of Death / Black Metal, this is a really good album, full of some of the darkest melodies you've ever listened to, with a lot of tempo variations, from the fastest ones to magical mid tempos with charming riffs. Furthermore Mersus delivers his great blasting and intelligent drumming on each of the songs again. The album has only seven tracks, the first one being an intro, but you'll realize this is not an EP when you see the shortest one lasts more than five minutes, and the others being between seven and eight. Going back to the production, they did a good thing choosing Necromorbus Studios for these last two releases, as this sound just fits perfectly to their music, it couldn't be better, believe me. It is clear, powerful and still sounds dark and brutal as it should be (although perhaps I still prefer the athmosphere of the previous EP); the vocals sound like they're coming directly from hell, but how could this not be like that seeing the previous work of this guy on the albums of FUNERAL MIST, ARMAGEDDA or WATAIN? Finally, not to forget, is the cover, done by one of my favourite cover artists in the Metal scene, Mr. Kris Verwimp, who has done a very original and unusual drawing for his typical "epic" style. So, fans of Swedish Black Metal, you've got a good one here, and this time coming from Germany. Check this band out if you don't 
know them yet, you'll be surprised. www.agoniarecords.com

Jeroni Sancho

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ZEENON
Blood Vessel Criteria
(Retribute Records)
34:28min

From the mainly black lands of Norway comes ZEENON: three long-haired women on vocals, bass and guitar together with one short-haired man on drums bring you technical, tight and fast Death Metal with a clean but heavy production for again long-haired Death Metal lunatics. Doesn't that sound dramatic!? Unfortunately ZEENON's music is not as dramatic as my opening sentence. On “Blood Vessel Criteria“ you get eight modern Death Metal tracks with a slight Thrash Metal note. All songs are mainly up-tempo, with grind-parts, mosh-parts and some technical in-between-parts. Bands like SINISTER, DEICIDE, DYING FETUS (without the Hardcore-jump-your-trousers-under-your-knees-parts) and especially ALTAR (soundwise) come to mind when ZEENON talk to me through the CD-Player (the band names MORBID ANGEL, SLAYER, MESHUGGAH, OPETH and CANNIBAL CORPSE as influences but I can't hear any of these on “Blood Vessel Criteria“, especially not OPETH!). The songwriting is the weakest aspekt on the CD, the songs sometimes just sound pseudo-complex and give meaningless riffs too much room. That is a thing the band should work on to give their songs more maturity. Surprisingly ZEENON is around for quite some time now: already founded in 1995 this is their first full-length release after six demo CDs or EPs. Yet I must admit that they did not catch my attention before this release. And now I know why: it is quite hard to get into a band that simply lacks its own identity, its own face to get my reviewing hooks under, rip it off and look what lies behind. Nothing really bad to say about this release, except the songwriting: everything is well played, most of the riffs are ok, vocals are fine, sound is good, balanced mixture of blasting Death Metal parts and crushing mid-tempo Thrash parts, modern-standard artwork and some interesting lyrics (somehow in the CARCASS vein but without the words nobody understands...). But I would never buy a CD like this, it simply doesn't grip me in any way... Anyway, if you are still interested check out the bands well done website to listen to a track from “Blood Vessel Criteria“. www.zeenon.com, www.retributerecords.com. On sale here.

ZEMIAL
Necrolatry (MLP)
(Iron Pegasus Records)
17:01min

After the classic "Sleeping Under Tartaros" 7" and "For The Glory Of UR" (compilation) CD here's finally another sign of life from the Greek (nowadays in Australia living) ZEMIAL. The vinyl only MLP "Necrolatry" features five songs ('Eclipse', 'Dragon's Touch (The Eyes Of Fire)', 'Nocturnal Witch', 'Possessed By Twilight' and 'Breath Of The Pestilence' plus an outro) and should easy appeal to all die hard underground maniacs into raw and very primitive Black Metal in its most traditional form. The band easily manages to get the right ancient feeling across throughout the whole recording and in terms of the simplicity of their writing partly even brings HELLHAMMER and early BATHORY to mind, but never to the extent that they are sounding like any of those bands! Even though I immensely enjoy this recording, I can't really see the point in releasing it on vinyl as the quality just has the standard of a good sounding rehearsal. A simple tape version undoubtedly would've been more fan friendly here (in terms of the price). So, maybe ZEMIAL should just consider to re-record these great songs for a full length in the near future in a decent studio to do them real justice. The MLP (limited to 666 copies) sells for 18,-DM (+ postage: 7,-DM in Germany, 12,-DM in Europe and 15,-DM rest of the world; up to 2 kg), the picture disc (limited to 100 copies, incl. LP-sleeve) for 30,-DM (same postage rates). Write to: Iron Pegasus Records, P.O. Box 1462, 56804 Cochem / Mosel, Germany, e-mail: Iron-Pegasus@t-online.de, website: http://www.ironpegasus.com

Frank Stöver

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ZEMIAL
In Monumentum
(NYX Records)
35:85min

ZEMIAL is a sore spot of contention with me. I have wanted to like them since I first heard their band name mentioned in passing from friends in Germany. Thought the name was killer for a band, their logo just amazing and so memorable. Many months later I finally caught a flyer for the “Necrolatry” MLP (I missed out on the majority of the bands earlier efforts, even though like Gothic Records was within State) and so it was then after all this time when I finally got a hold of this record from Iron Pegasus that musically I was just disheartened. I had something else in mind wholly, and it wasn’t raw fucking Death Metal like I had heard initially either. So ended my craving for all things ZEMIAL (this too happened with Finns URN. What a killer Death Metal band name!). Almost 7 years later I still own nothing else of this band, until today. “In Monumentum” is a conceptual LP written and conceived in honour to pay tribute to the passing of Quorthon of BATHORY (good ol’ Q., may he sit under the table of the gods with enough meat scraps before him and his seat directly under a decent sized crack in that gods table, for the beer to flow down to him and quench his undying thirst!). Of that seven songs grace this recording, the first starting off curiously enough with the MEGADETH-ish (‘In My Darkest Hour’) opener ‘For A Fallen One’ and then quickly turning against that tide, the other six roll like the Absu in steady succession running the gambit of straight forward BATHORY inspired pieces. Pro recorded and mixed, this MLP has within its credits not only a pro production but as well, a full color 8 page booklet / tray insert and blackened silver disc. Contact: Postfach 1147, 53895 Bad Münstereifel, Germany or www.myspace.com/zemial

Wes Rhodes

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ZOMBIE RITUAL
Night Of The Zombie Party
(Razorback Records)
41:06min

These Japanese Zombie addicted sickos started out back in the Spring of 2003 and go by the cute names of Dr.Hatred (vocals), Alcohol (guitar), Vlood (guitar), Eucharist (bass) and GxSx (drums). Except for Eucharist, who got fired rather quickly due to his laziness, the line-up has been steady ever since (Vlood just switched from guitar to bass). When it comes to their pre-album recordings, only one 3-song demo CD-R called "Fast And Alcoholic" reared its ugly head in October 2003, of which all of the songs ended up on "Night Of The Zombie Party" as well now. At first I was a little sceptical whether I should take the band really serious or not... not only because of the names they had chosen for themselves, but also because of their rather B-movie type image and the fact that all of the twelve tracks on the record have the word "zombie" in the title. 'Zombie Ritual', 'Zombie Fire', 'Zombified' and so on... I really wonder if they try to continue on with this in the future... But luckily the music proved me wrong, to say the least! I was honestly pretty much blown away by the excellent songwriting and the band's overall raw oldschool feel. If you associate ZOMBIE RITUAL with old DEATH because of the bandname, you're not completely thinking in the wrong direction. Some of the riffing indeed recalls the "Scream Bloody Gore" / "Leprosy" era, while the main vocals are more in the sick Chris Reifert (ex – AUTOPSY / ABSCESS) vein. But there's also an additional, more hysterical voice, elements of grinding Death Metal (the old Scandinavian way), as well as classic American 80s Thrash, which altogether results in an extremely convincing mixture. The songs are straight forward, rather catchy (due to the memorable choruses), partly doomy, but always very intense and spiced with some great guitar leads. Even the production comes across very professional and is the icing on the cake as it easily recalls the sound of older classics (so luckily no digitial drum sound here!), while the gory comic type coverart perfectly fits the band's overall concept. So, all in all this is a highly recommendable, very impressive debut! More info at  http://zombieritual.com or www.razorbackrecords.com

Frank Stöver

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ZONARIA
The Cancer Empire
(Century Media Records)
45:12min

One of the main candidates for the newcomer of the year is for sure ZONARIA. Their first album “Infamy And The Breed “had been one of the best debuts for years and - even if it had been released over a year ago – it’s still an essential part of my ‘Bang your head wake up Metal collection’. After the release of their debut they changed to a major record company which wasn’t a surprise taking into account their enormous potential. What could be expected from the “The Cancer Empire”? First of all a far better sound which is giving their Death / Black Metal hybrid an enormous power thanks to our Swedish friends from Studio Fredmann. Musically the changes are quite limited; it’s again a 45 minutes bloody massacre without any survivors. Going more into detail it seems that the band lost nothing of their brutality but the sheer aggression had been exchanged with higher musical skills. The still extremely young band had been on tour several times during the last 15 months (with PAIN and VADER) and the new songs still living from their brutality but the different parts are working more closely together. Especially the guitars and the supporting keyboards are standing ”side by side” to further increase the musical assault. I think that ZONARIA are one the big hopes of this genre even if their record company is gambling around with a lot of other bands to attract potential buyers. The Swedish band don’t need this support they had and still have their own, fresh approach and I’m really looking forward to the live presentation of the new songs (on the forthcoming SATYRICON tour) - so see you there to celebrate the rise of a new musical antichrist. www.zonaria.com, www.centurymedia.com

Matthias Auch

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ZORN
Menschenfeind
(Neon Knights)
50:25min

Imagine a person "A". When this person starts a band at the beginning of the 90s, for being able to distinguish between the bands he’s part of, we call this band "M". This band plays Death Metal à la DEICIDE. When the big Death Metal-boom however collapses, he realizes that Black Metal will be the next big thing, this band turns into a Black Metal-band with the second demo, offering there a crude mixture of music and lyrics with Satan and Wotan walking hand in hand through misty forests. With a sudden a certain British Black Metal-band turns up, selling quite a lot of records with a very stylish vampiric image, so the debut album of the band "M" suddenly turns out to be of every vampiric imagery. Despite the music this album however sells ironically quite well for a German Black Metal-album. To cut a long story short: after raping a German saga with the second album and playing in costumes that would fit well to a circus-show, at the peak of Swedish Black Metal "A" thought it would be very clever to start a solo-project called "I", copying the style of DARK FUNERAL and the likes. Are we really astonished that at a time when great bands like CLANDESTINE BLAZE or KATHARSIS celebrate the renaissance of raw Black Metal (not to forget that hose bands started when no one really cared about the true Norwegian way of Black Metal?) this person starts a new band – in this case called ZORN – which plays raw Black Metal and citing DARKTHRONE, GORGOROTH or BEHERIT (I still couldn’t find any trace of this band anyway) as influences? Well, if I see the development of the last ten years or read interviews once again that "A" did, I personally have my doubts that this person is really the leading α-wolf he tries to pretend he is when talking to him. However, bearing in mind his previous efforts, I must admit that ZORN remains the best of all he has done until now. As I honestly don’t need invention or anything as long as Black Metal has a soul, this CD is partly quite reasonable. Some passages (e.g. in the songs ‘Endsieg’ or ‘Kristallnacht’) are quite good, while others are utterly dull and in the end, there are many better choices (the aforementioned bands but also CRAFT etc.) than ZORN especially as long as we search for something like integrity within Black Metal. Not a bad album, but aren’t there too many "not bad" albums today? http://www.zorn.darkmetal.net. You can order it here.

Nhashi

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ZUBROWSKA
One On Six
(Xtreem Music)
36:04min

On their debut album these French newcomers blend various styles of aggressive music: from Death Metal and Grindcore to Metal- and Noisecore. The complex songs stagger between brutal blasts, Hardcore-typical breakdown orgies, experimental noise-parts and a few Swedish Death Metal melodies. Despite this variety of influences ZUBROWSKA manage to keep their songs dynamic and powerful, thanks to the sophisticated guitar work and the two aggressive vocalists, one screaming, one growling. This whole mixture is controlled chaos, not necessarily catchy at the first time of listening but full of details hidden in a vortex of aggression. Needless to say that fans of old-school Death Metal won't like this release very much but open-minded people who dig more wicked and experimental stuff like MISERY INDEX should definitely give it a try. The band's website http://www.zubrowska.com/  is under construction yet but from there you can download two mp3 files and find out if ZUBROWSKA are your pint of beer.

Christoph Göbel

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ZUBROWSKA
Family Vault
(Xtreem  Music)
33:27min

This relatively young band (named after a vodka brand yet with an additional “s”) hails from Toulouse in France and delivers a very convincing mixture of modern slam- and blast-ridden Death Metal, psychotic Metal Core and twisted Math Core arrangements… if you like that style, that is. No idea about the lyrics here – from the first glance some titles have a humoristic touch ('Maniac Rockers From Darkness' or 'Vampire Killin' Kit') but I will leave that to you to find out. ”Family Vault” is actually their second effort after the already well done debut “One On Six” that got released in 2003. The vocal delivery is shared between two throats and varies between deep growls, high to mid ranged hardcore shouting and occassionally a wailing voice as well as some more or less spoken bits. Also the overall songwriting approach is packed with different influences… I must say that the Xtreem info sheet is quite accurate here in mentioning the many influences that these guys have digested: besides the massive riffing that is slightly akin to older DYING FETUS the fast und intricate licks as well as some abrupt tempo / signature changes bear a clear resemblance of DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN… “Under The Running Board” certainly had an effect here! I don’t really agree that velocity and technical level are on par with the also mentioned CRYPTOPSY and CEPHALIC CARNAGE but nevertheless this comparison serves as a good and valid hint as the material is at times very fast and far from simple. ZUBROWSKA don't blast their way straight forward all the time, though - besides the shifting of the signatures and in addition to heavy moshing riffs several almost melancholic, psychotic sounding calmer parts add up to the picture – the CONVERGE comparison mentioned in the info fits. Personally, I would say that ZUBROWSKA definitely are a force to be reckoned in the world of modern hardstuff music and I bet my ass that this is massive in a live situation! Most probably not an album for the traditional Death Metal afficionado but in case you dig any of the above mentioned bands (I might add BURNT BY THE SUN) you have to risk an ear. Contact ZUBROWSKA: c/o Julien Deyres, 1 Rue Pons Capdenier, 31500 Toulouse, France, email: info@zubrowska.com, homepage: www.zubrowska.com. Label contact: Xtreem Music, P.O. Box 1195, 28080 Madrid, Spain, email: info@xtreemmusic.com, homepage: www.xtreemmusic.com.

Ulrich Kreienbrink

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ZWARTKETTERIJ
Cult Of The Necro-Thrasher
(Displeased Records)
37:08min

Urgh, due to the name (now I know it means Black Heresy) and rather dumb (in my opinion) title I expected this to be a mediocre / weak retro thing… well, the album definitely is retro (and seems to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek) but it is not weak, hehe. To make it short, the band plays a quite happening brand of Black / Thrash Metal, heavily leaning towards the “Thrash” side, in this case rather influenced by the heydays of the German wave. Actually, some raspy vocals are the aspect which is most reminiscent of Black Metal. On top of that, you also get some more classically styled Heavy Metal vocals which tend to go in the clear / dirty direction of, let's say Udo Dirkschneider… there are even some uh-ah choirs and high pitched screams! I am not sure if “authentic” would be the right term to describe this but I have to say that the songs are well-written and clearly competently played Thrash songs radiating lots of eighties Metal feeling with some blackish vibes and full of drive. Some epic parts can be found and solos are plenty as well. With lines like “Lick my Chainsaw, Bitch!” one could place ZWARTKETTERIJ in a row with BARBATOS and SCEPTER, at least attitude-wise as musically, the band is more versatile, energetic and, dare I say, thought-out than those two Metal commandos. Ok, this review may not sound too convincing but the record itself sounds convincing, meaning it all works out surprisingly well (I would like to see that band on a stage!). The bottomline is that ZWARTKETTERIJ have come up with a strongly produced album full with powerful heavy Thrash Metal songs with some contemporary edges and lots of Metal melodies, paying homage to the eighties but in a dedicated way. With dedicated I mean that they actually managed to come across with something on their own, of course the influences can be detected. I guess the band will hate me for the comparison but does anybody remember the Norwegian project DESEKRATOR and their record “Metal For Demons”? Well, imagine that but place the emphasis less on the comical / nostalgia / fun part but on the music part instead and you are bit closer to what ZWARTKETTERIJ deliver. Maybe I should have just quoted the band's motto: Hail the 80s Metal Spirit! Denim and Leather, Bullets and Spikes!! Fuck the Church!! Hail Satan!! Nothing to add…apart from beer!  www.zwartketterij.nl, www.myspace.com/zwartketterij

Ulrich Kreienbrink

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ZYKLON
World Ov Worms
(Candlelight Records)
41:16min

Fuck, this is a great one!!! ZYKLON is a new "all-star" band hailing from Norway, consisting of EMPEROR's Samoth (now naming himself Zamoth – on guitar / bass) and Trym (on drums), MYRKSKOG's Destructhor (on guitar) and LIMBONIC ART's Daemon (on vocals). ZYKLON has nothing to do with Zamoth's old project ZYKLON-B and is musically far superior anyway! While EMPEROR more and more evolved into a rather complex and sophisticated direction on their latest releases, ZYKLON is mainly sheer brutality, but still on a really high musical level! Every now and then you may recognize some typical EMPEROR guitar parts (especially in the fast parts), but in general these guys are a lot more intense and (just like Destructhor's main band MYRKSKOG) are almost walking the extreme Death Metal paths. Their country of origin still shines through pretty clearly in the songwriting, but that's fine with me, as it gives them an even more unique overall approach. They managed to combine several influences from all kinds of extreme musical genres and ended up with an overall, totally skull crushing and excellent sounding result that should easily appeal to all Black, Death and extreme Metal fans alike. Their anti-religious, apocalyptic lyrics (courtesy of former EMPEROR drummer Bard Faust Eithun) furthermore fit the band's concept and music just perfect, so my closing advice is: make sure to keep the 5th of February 2001 in mind, cause that is the official release date of this masterpiece!! Until then you can already check out the band's official website at: www.zyklontribe.com. You can order it here.

Frank Stöver

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