Zeus – 07

1. My Name Is
2. Drive On
3. Breeder
4. Ain’t She Lovely
5. Carousel
6. Just Begun
7. Save Me
8. Man On Fire
9. Crazy Calm
10. Falling
10 tracks that deliver a cocktail of old school heavy rock, melodic groove and even some doom!
is the Greek king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus, and god of the sky and thunder. A very modest name for a bunch of rebel rockers from Amsterdam, indeed. They give us a fist in the face with their blend of dirty grunge, stoner and doom. The band declares they play heavy, groovy rock, but that sounds way too anonymous and insignificant for them, because is one of those few present bands that know how to play real grunge. Not that weak teenager-grunge of Nickelback, Staind or Saliva that gives you narcoleptic attacks, but mean ‘n’ dirty grunge with an uppercut like in the heydays of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, TAD and even Melvins. Yes, the mighty Melvins, because is not afraid to play their grunge with some heavier elements.
Two years ago they released their self-financed debut album “Bad Signs”, now the relatively new and promising new label Freebird released their second album that is played by the same four guys. This means we hear phat bass grooves of Bob Gerritsen, muthafunking sledgehammer blows of Paul Jansen, buzz-fuzzing guitar crunches of Roy Jansen and the smoky, raw-edged vocals of Jeroen van Koningsbrugge. Especially Jeroen is a great talent and that’s pretty remarkable, because he is now in Holland a famous television comedy star. You would never expect that a comedy actor would have such a good rock voice, but he really has.
After the instrumental opening song “” (which would perfectly fit on any Karma To Burn album) the first couple of songs relive the best elements of the early days of Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, while the Hawkwind-like sound effects in for example “Drive On” and “Falling” must be coming from producer Marcel van de Vondervoort, because that’s something he’s doing as well in his own band Astrosoniq. In “Ain’t She Lovely” and especially in the excellent “Crazy Calm” the band dives into the depths of doom, referring to bands like St. Vitus, Goatsnake, Melvins and the slowest Iommi riffs. A song like “Carousel” they could have sold to Josh Homme. But the overall feeling is coherent, rock solid sound with a distinguished signature. “” sounds pretty heavy, but due to the catchy riffs, the memorable melodies and powerful voice it’s also accessible for a large audience. plays the metal blues for large venues.
CD album
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