ZEOLITE – L’APPEL DU VIDE

(Andy Synn kicks off his week with a bit of down-under Deathcore violence courtesy of Zeolite)

People often ask me – well, not so much “often” as “occasionally” – how I keep up with everything that’s released each week.

And my answer is… I don’t!

Oh, I used to run myself ragged trying to have an opinion on every album or EP that came out, but I soon realised that  a) this wasn’t good for me (and was stopping me from actually enjoying my life), and b) every single one of these releases actually deserved more of my time and attention if I wanted to do them justice (which is why I’m so sceptical/scornful when people claim to have listened to 100+ albums every month… as they’re clearly more concerned with showing off the quantity, rather than the quality, of their listening).

And so I made the decision (the healthy decision, I think) to work smarter, rather than harder, going forwards, and to focus more on just covering whatever I felt most enthusiastic about – whatever I felt I had some insight into or that I had an interesting angle on – so that I could dedicate more time to fewer albums overall.

Which brings me to L’Appel Du Vide, the recently-released second album from Australian Brutal/Technical Deathcore/Death Metal crew Zeolite.

You see, while there were a lot of cool albums released last week (some of which I’m sure will find their way onto the site sooner or later) this one grabbed my attention immediately due to the sheer, unremitting intensity with which opener “Penitence” burst out of the speakers on my first encounter with the record.

But while the initial appeal (and impressive power) of the band’s sound – which blends the chattering blasts and chugging grooves of early Whitechapel with the punishing precision of latter-day Aborted and the guttural ugliness of Benighted at their nastiest (along with an aura of brooding atmosphere reminiscent of Humanity’s Last Breath) – is quickly made obvious by the album’s in-your-face opener, this doesn’t necessarily give you the whole story.

For one thing there’s more than enough flashes of Cannibal Corpse-esque churn ‘n’ burn or Suffocation-esque pseudo-slammery to be found in tracks like “Abyss” (itself an early highlight) and “Effulgent Death” to suggest that at least some of the more ‘core-curious Death Metal fans might actually find themselves falling for the album’s brutish charms.

And, for another, you might be surprised at just how effective some of the band’s more menacingly melodic moments (as can be found during stand-out cuts like “Impetus” and “Oozing Black”) and ambient/atmospheric flirtations (such as the tension-building undercurrent underpinning the brooding, bludgeoning conclusion of “Stygian”) can be at expanding the overall dynamic of the record.

Both “Apparition” – four minutes and forty-three seconds of gargantuan, gloom-shrouded groove and oppressive, doom-laden devastation – and subtly proggy, yet absolutely pulverising, closer “Knell” in particular hint at even bigger, better things for the band’s future, as while they’ve obviously mastered the art of aggression it’s clear that they’re also developing a taste for the darker, moodier side of things as well.

I’ll grant you that L’Appel Du Vide probably won’t be enough to win over the most committed anti Deathcore activists, but it’s definitely made its mark in my opinion and helped remind me why – when the timing is right and the band delivers – I still have a lot of time and a lot of love for the style/genre/whatever you want to call it.