REVIEWS
Here's the latest reviews (most recent first) of Zonei's debut CD, 'Zonei'
KERRANG! - April 3 1999
A brave, if not entirely listenable, album in which goth, death, techno and prog rock are put through the blender with limited success. Zonei have all the right ingredients, but have yet to find a formula that will turn their Frankenstein's monster into something rather less clumsy.
"It walks!" they doubtless cry at their creation. Ah yes, but there are plenty of others that can run and even dribble a football.
Zonei's main hindrance is the utterly stupid vocal growl that lumbers through each track, trying hard to be scary yet completely outdone by some smarter-than-average guitar lines and a lynch mob of drums and keyboards.
A remake beckons.
Mörat - KKK (out of 5)
Hmm, not sure what to say here. For those of you who don't know, Kerrap! is a metal magazine written for kids, a sort of Smash Hits! for the metal crowd. Kerrap! are renowned for having a nasty bite, especially if their palms aren't greased by fat wads of cash in return for nice words. We don't pay anyone to say something nice about us (unlike a lot of bands/ record companies), we don't need to, the music stands up for itself. Make of this review what you will - we put it here to let you know that sad wankers like Mörag abound. Why don't you piss off back to your saturday morning cartoons!
(for International readers, Morag was a pantomime cow that used to co-present one of UK's more abysmal Saturday morning kid's shows)
METAL HAMMER - April 1999
Pleasingly thick and crunchy industrial thrash not a million miles removed from, say, KMFDM or even Rammstein. The melodies are strong and well orchestrated with a deeply saturated bass thrum anchoring everything to the syncopated rhythms and loops. This works best on tunes such as 'Carnival of Decay' which woundn't be out of place on Satan's dancefloor. The only problem is the variable production on the vocals which are buried in the mix, a situation not helped by their low-growling nature
Essi Berelian (6)
This is what I call a review! Despite the poor grade, and the poor vocal note, I'd say this was a fair review. Unlike Mörag at Kerrap!, Essi has obviously listened to the CD, and formed a well-informed opinion of the album - wish there was a few more balanced reviews in other magazines!
OCCUM'S RAZOR - issue 4
Zonei is the name of the band, and the name of the album. They formerly recorded under the name Seranance putting out a couple of demo tapes, but this is their first CD offering.
It opens with gentle and atmospheric tones (appropriately entitled - "intro") which are disturbed by a 30 second interruption of pure noise, hinting at a ferocious undiluted industrial onslaught. What follows however is on the whole upbeat goth-rock; a sort of 80's goth/90's darkwave fusion with pounding, tribal drumming, innovative guitar accompaniment and vocals which are so gruff and low you wouldn't be surprised if you discovered Danny Zonei's singer gargling with gravel. He definitely eats from the same bowl as Trev from Midnight Configuration. Interspersed throughout the album are peculiar snippets of helicopters and mocking laughter creating a unique character. The band are Nephilim influenced but definitely not Nephilim soundalikes, having more in common with the current wave of German darkwave.
Zonei could perhaps benefit from a little more vocal variation. The only alteration from the gruff barking comes on track 8 "Endymion" which is more techno/dancy than the rest and is performed with a whispering voice. Completing the ensemble is a psychedelic soundscape which is completely
unrelated to all that's went before. (imaginatively entitled "outro")
Available for £12 inc p&p from:
PO Box 666, [who did they bribe to get that one, I wonder. Goths eh?] Chichester, W Sussex, PO19 2WG.
The music is punchy and the mood sinister. The CD gets a big Occum's thumbs up.
Ali
Here's what some of the underground fanzines had to say about Seranance's first demo tape (before the name-change!)
ORGAN
This is the first demo to really stand out since we started to labour on this fine Organ you are now holding in your excited hands... hey, if your holding this now, then we wrote about Seranance about six weeks ago... no, I'm writing this now and you're six weeks in the future...
The first track [Your Hand] sounded like the classic slide guitar of Pink Floyd circa More with this deliciously different trance-like tribal beat that just builds and builds - it's epicness has really made our ears prick up, very adventurous and original and potentially magical... Track two is called Ashes and it has a mysterious ghostly Dark Wave twist to it...
The tape is very messy at the moment... I guess you could say they have a Goth undercurrent but it's highly original and creative... Beautiful guitar on that first track, almost an Eastern feel, some of the things that made Frog so good, Very tribal...
I suspect this is their first tape, they could well develop into something special... it's crude in it's adventure at the moment. Watch this space, we hope to bring you developments... this is potentially good.
BLACK PLANET
This demo features two tracks, Your Hand and Ashes. From the publicity photos accompanying their tape Seranance look like typical Goths and dress very Mission/Nephilim-like with cowboy hats and shades.
Musically I quite enjoyed the demo. Your Hand is quite a slow ballad with lots of complicated guitar and while vocally it sounds a bit Nephilim, muscially I think there are hints of Jane's Addiction in there with lots of oriental type guitar and heavy, almost tribal, drums.
The second song Ashes begins with some nice deep church bells and then the drums come pounding in (again very tribal sounding) and then that oriental sounding guitar again. This song is a bit more upbeat and has similar Neph type vocals but unfortunately the quality of reproduction on this tape isn't high enough to let the true talent that I feel the band have to shine through.
I think that band show distinct promise and need to get a CD out.
CYRKEL SPYNN
Hmm, Seranance. This is another band that I don't know all that much about apart from they come from Chichester in West Sussex and that I've read a couple of other 'zine reviews of this demo in... Organ and Black Planet fanzines.
The demo cassettes contains 2 songs, Your Hand and... Ashes. With the music being of a dark, tribal, psychodelic, ethnic, gothic, rock genre... a kind of cross over between Pink Floyd and the Fields of the Nephilim.
By the sounds of things the band know where they want to go with the music, and hopefully they will get there fast. This tape is very unusual and underlined with an obvious talent. It sounds very promising, hopefully we'll hear a lot more from this band in the future.
My favourite song of the 2 on this demo, well it's got to be, Ashes.
Ratings (1-5) - Seranance, Demo Cassette (4).