Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of
the growing pool of talent in my local area. Zonderhoof were another local band
that I’d somehow spent my entire life avoiding; that was until Terrorizer
magazine gave their album away for free with an issue of their magazine, and at
their stall in Damnation Festival 2011 (which is where I kindly received my
copy). Even then, I only gave it a quick listen, and I wasn’t turned on to the
band again until they supported Conan in a Cardiff show last year.
My first - and somewhat harsh - thought about
this album is that Zonderhoof sound like a poor man’s Bongripper. Y’know one of
those silly half-opinions you form after listening to something for the first
time, like no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise, you really still
haven’t got your head around it? Well, it was one of those. See, that’s why I can never understand “professional”
reviews where a writer is given an album to write about*; I’ve found that you
always need to let a record unfold for you over time. First impressions are
just that; first impressions.
And with time I have come to appreciate
Zonderhoof as an instrumental wonder of the metal world, playing a nice, almost
progressive brand of lyric-free metal goodness. This CD is a long ‘un, which is
really great considering it was given away for free (just think of the
recording and production costs; sheesh!). My favourite tracks are probably opener “Smoking Ears Screaming Teeth”
and the groovy “Hogslayer”, although the last couple of tracks are awesome as well. Well
worth a listen, in my somewhat skewed opinion.
*a brilliant, recurring example of this is
the writers that Kerrang! employ(ed). When a big band dropped a new album
they’d always give it either an arse-kissing five Ks or a controversial licking, and
within months go back on their own fucking word almost every single time, like
clockwork. Mind you, Kerrang! is a heap of shit and probably a bad example, but
there you go.
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