Bristol’s angry and energetic anarcho-punks are back with a second full length album packed with powerful dark hardcore punk tunes. Fourteen new songs of utter power and energy. An absolute must!
LouderThanWar pre-release review: Zero Again – Ever-changing Is The Art of Death.
Zero Again’s second album builds on the aesthetic set out on their debut. Hardcore punk with a hint of Killing Joke and Rudimentary Peni.
Nathan Brown advises you to pre-order a copy before they’re all gone…
In this new release, Zero Again carry on in similar vein to their previous album and EPs. They have a winning formula so why mess with it? Intelligent hardcore punk with a death rock twist that argues in favour of human rights and animal liberation. Unfortunately I can’t help but say the title in a Yoda voice.
Opening with feedback is always a winner. It builds the anticipation before the music rips. And this album does rip. Insight Into Ignorance sets out the stall of what is to come. This album provides “An insight into anguish, An insight into ignorance”. The horror cover art by Andy Lefton captures the mood perfectly.
Zero Again combine both power and intricacy. Rather than bludgeoning you they focus on crafting a skilled approach which means when it delivers it hits hard – as if music was a martial art.
Glenn’s drums pound out fluid rhythms with occasional clipped abrupt stops and insane snare rolls punctuating his work, whether it’s at galloping or thumping tempo. He’s still one of the best punk drummers these islands have seen. Author Ian Glasper cuts angular shapes or meanders through long melodies on his bass, and in a couple of places I hear a similarity to the work of one of his book subjects, Subhumans (along with Rudimentary Peni natch).
Payney’s guitar tone switches between a heavy big sound, sustained notes and picked melodies. Yep, a nod to Killing Joke. It is full of extra embellishments that build the atmosphere and depth of the music. He effortlessly throws in one of the fastest punk rock guitar solos this side of Bad Brains and thrash metal without sounding naff.
The lyrical payload is delivered by Dean with assistance from Payney. They growl, shout and howl like a gang of hobgoblins and orcs have come up from their subterranean hole to torment you.
As with their previous releases Rudimentary Peni and Killing Joke deserve a mention, but this band have been going long enough to be recognised in their own right. This sounds like Zero Again.
The words they spit out are an observation of the current state of the world, summed up nicely by the note accompanying the lyrics: “Thanks to every fucker that strives to treat others with a modicum of respect“. A play on the sleeve note on Discharge’s debut EP that declared “Thanks to no fucker” and more in tune with the less nihilistic, caring punk scene of today.
The picture Zero Again paint is recognisable. We are in effect a Media-Ocracy wherein the rich dictate policy and twist behaviours. Hatred is diverted away from the real culprits.
Zero Again want people to wise up, as set out in Uneasy Reflection:
“Divert your pent-up frustrations
Towards those that uphold the power
To the c*nts getting rich and other sly benefits
Stoking this shit shower”
That misdirected hatred is channelled at migrants by those “Gathered in hundreds, Foaming at the jaws, On a demo for En-gur-land” calling for Border Con/Troll. Nice word play: the trolls don’t realise that border control is a con. Immigrants are not the problem!
Autumn Statement, Bleak Outlook and Bootlicker all attack the class system, extractive economy and the levers of government policies which reward the rich and punish the poor. Problematic personal behaviours and attitudes are highlighted in Waiting To Die and Entitled. Construct Of Hate actively kicks out at people lurking round the edges of the punk scene harbouring racist and homophobic views.
A Graveyard for Children could apply to any war, but most obviously applies to the wholesale slaughter of civilians we have witnessed in Gaza, through the lens of a media narrative that oft sides with the perpetrators.
It’s not just the human condition covered by the narrative of this album. We are on the brink of Eco-collapse and the rich partake in Trophy Killing (the song titles say it all). Meanwhile Without Consequence draws attention to fox hunting and the way that animals hunt sabs are treated with the law seemingly turning a blind eye.
All in all, this is a thumpingly good record that manages to balance heavy pounding power, breakneck sprints and atmosphere without any of it sounding out of character. A well rounded effort from a crack team with a lot to get off their chest.
Polish label Sanctus Propaganda released Zero Again’s first LP and EP, (and Engineer Records released the CDs), and as the band have now built up a following, this one will probably sell out so you’re advised to jump on the pre-order.
You can pre-order the new album on CD here.