Zombeast
Self Titled
6.7
This should probably be fielded immediately--Zombeast is in no respects a metal band. However, before any of you hit the back button on your browser it should be mentioned that there’s absolutely no good reason a large portion of the meatheads out there won’t go ape shit over what I consider to be one of Horror High’s most enjoyable and promising figures.
Any of you familiar with the name Glenn Danzig or with any of the projects he’s been involved in already have a strikingly accurate portrait of the musical line this band treads. Interestingly enough, Zombeast’s singer is a dead ringer for Glenn, but musically speaking the instrumentation treads more along the lines of what Danzig did during his time with Samhain and his solo career with a fairly astute nod to the likes of Son of Sam, albeit there is an extremely healthy dose of earlier Misfits. Rather honestly the band doesn’t claim to be anything new or original, but while they may not offer the next avant-garde brand of punk rock, they make up with a dedicated sound that reworks the originals of the genre on tracks like “Witch”, “Die Slow”, and “Flesh Eaters” while still managing at the least to add a fairly personal twist to the mix with tracks like “Black Death”, the slow paced “Eternity”, and the climactic closure with “Wolfskin Killer.” While there’s still plenty of infectious hooks and memorable moments, Zombeast luckily avoid the usual trap of the style by neither appealing to commercial punk or poppier tendencies that bands like AFI have been lambasted over. Zombeast keep things pretty consistent to the core roots of their influences, whereas many of their peers just come off as a bubblegum Hot Topic version in respect to the original aesthetic of the genre.
Personally, my tastes in music include crust, punk, and pyschobilly as well as my usual regiment of extreme music. While these genres aren’t something you’ll catch me listening to daily or even weekly, I do have a particular passion for them and they're still widely important parts of my musical panorama. Every now and then I can really sink my teeth into something else of this sort for what can oftentimes be an immensely rewarding and enjoyable change of pace. This isn’t one for everyone, but if you’ve ever caught yourself singing along to “Skulls”, “Last Caress” or ever wondered what horror punk is about I seriously advise picking this one up.
