Song of Zarathustra

That's right.. Another "Song of.." band.

Song of Zarathustra basically sounds like something that'd be on the three-one-g catalogue (but are on ebulition.) Vocally it sounds like any Justin Pearson band--Primarily Swing Kids. Throw in choppy mathy calculated guitar riffs that sounds like an aggressive Drive Like Jehu..Or...Again...Any Justin Pearson band....Primarily...Swing Kids.... Cough, cough.
Now--What separates it from that JP sound I keep toting? An organ and a drumbeat machine. So you now have a pissed off, less Jazz-influenced, less artsy-fartsy Antioch Arrow? I approve!!

I love this album and have been listening to it extreme amounts in the past two weeks. The album can get to feel a bit repetitive at times but the use of the organ can save that at a few points. It is not overdone and adds a haunting foreboding feeling to the tracks. I feel if they used it much more it would have added the same tone to a lot of the songs but the organ is drowned out in guitar and bass a lot which really saves these songs from getting too boring. Though "Mess of Zero" & "The Birth of Tragedy" both sound very similar BECAUSE of the organ so it's a bit of a curse, too.

Though the band formed in 1997 "The Birth Of A Tragedy" is their debut album and was not released until 2000 and occurs after the bands initial breakup and reunion. That's about as far as my knowledge of the band goes and that's mostly from reading about it so I had something to write about. I picked up a 7" randomly on an Ebay binge and was pleasantly surprised and grabbed this LP shortly after.

Oh, and one of the members went on to create the Hold Steady--This is much more my cup of tea, though.

p.s. I know I'm usually bad for how long I take to make posts but this time it's excused. Due to my move I haven't had internet for almost two weeks! Gimme a break.

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