Zozabra - Harmonic Tremors (Hydrahead)
3/5
By: Charlie Potter
Zozobra are half of Old Man Gloom, primarily the brain child of Caleb Scofield (also of Cave In), backed up by drums from Santos Montano (also of Old Man Gloom). And that is exactly how it sounds - it sounds like one man's noodlings with the help of another guy to fill out the sound, added quite late in the game. The most surprising thing about 'Harmonic Tremors' is that it's a lot less experimental than the Old Man Gloom albums we've come to know. There are no long drawn out soundscapes, no drones, none of all that fun stuff. You would have hoped that Caleb would have used the opportunity to do lots of crazy stuff, but no, this is actually a relatively straightforward heavy rock album. Basically, imagine an album of all those brilliant payoffs from 'Seminar II' sounding good but then take out two guitar parts and stretch the songs out a bit - that's Zozobra.
However, it does manage to retain some of this feeling of constant pay off which is really rather fun. The album seems to explore lots of ways of structuring different moods and lots of riff styles, and for the first half this makes it a really above average record. But by the time you've reached the end, you start thinking 'OK, I get it, the guy likes all his low down and vast rock guitar sounds. Enough!' This album doesn't manage to get you to marvel at it's incredible diversity, and though it does a lot better than a great deal of albums of its kind what you are ultimately left with that is the thought that the only real merit of to album are the bits where you stumble across wholly satisfying riffs. It's a record that could do with a few more such moments over which to trip.
Personally I think that this is the problem with heavy music - there are so many albums out there that are passable and structurally experimental, with the occasionally good riff, that this is all people think they need to do. As such it's only once in a blue moon that a truly incredible band comes and blows them all out of the water. Heavy rock when it's really good is really really bloody amazing, as well as really interesting. Yet when it's average, it's OK. When it's good, it's OK. Even when it's below average, it's OK. I admit that it sounds like I am either talking utter rubbish, or just saying something that is true of all genres, but I don't think that this is the case, and would happily welcome any complaints. The problem is that unless you can find a more interesting payoff than an enormous riff, you're just suck with all the other hundreds of rock bands.
What you find in this album when you listen to it over and over is that the frequency of the pay offs increases, as it should. Also, the drummers talent for restraint stretches out all the goodness in this album, giving it that vast, recorded out in the middle of a dessert feel that Old Man Gloom so consistently manage to obtain. Yeah, there's a slight dip in the middle, but overall it's a decent heavy rock album, even if it's not one that rewards vast amounts of concentration.
Artists in this article: Zozabra
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