8

Zeropunk review

Now that the 'pendulum' has swung back towards rock, with strong foundations laid in electro influenced sounds, North London Band, Zeropunk, have emerged with their self titled debut album of futuristic electro rock. They are influenced by the likes of Tool and the more standard issue industrial influence of Nine Inch Nails.

Welcome to the future kicks off the album with some electronic drums which have an "Downward Spiral" feel to them but the vocals lack the menacing, sinister sound that come from the likes of Trent Reznor.
If anything, once the song kicks off a bit there is a hint of Muse when drummer James Noble comes in.

Compared to the album opener, The Portal and Seed are more traditional slices of alt rock with the crunch of guitars and the crash of symbols from Noble's drumming.

After doing some reading (i.e. the band's press release) it doesn't take a genius to figure out that front man Jesse Clark is the head honcho in this band. He was the one who put the ad up to get the band going and his vocals on the album get strong pass marks. Some people fall into the bottomless pit of whining, American accent, cat strangling that many others have (no animals were harmed in the writing of this review.) Clark was also responsible for production on the album.

'Rabbit Hole' is one of the strongest tracks on the album which would probably be a strong contender to be released as a single. To use an old Scottish saying, the band are giving it laldy on this track.

'Journey' sees the band take a bit of a detour so to speak from the first four tracks with something that sounds more of a traditional rock track. It is quite steady going for the first three minutes and then lets rip with an epic final blast of noise before disappearing into the night again.

Another highlight of the album is 'Rain'. This is another contender to be released as a single as Clark nails the vocal that was missing slightly in 'Welcome to the future'. The breakdown with just the bass and drums is a particular favourite.

The problem with music that has elements of electro in it is that you have to make sure you have the right equipment. So with the appropriate investment by Futurebound Records the band might just be able to really get themselves on a roll and build on this decent debut album.