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Staff IconThe Zimmerman Note - New Deception (Cover Artwork)

The Zimmerman Note

New Deception (2005)
Innerstrength

Reviewer Rating:


Contributed by: Anchors
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on December 2nd 2005


It seems as if there is no ground left to cover, no original concepts to be thought of or capitalized on in the world of heavy music. It’s all been done, and done again. Bands like Isis and Dillinger Escape Plan give hope that the well hasn’t run dry, and that there’s no concepts and style variations to be expanded on, but for the vast lot of bands playing metalcore, grindcore, black metal and the like, the dead horse is long since beaten.

So when listening to an album that’s heavily infused by the Scandanavian black metal sound, it’s important to take it at face value. We know it’s not original, but past that, how’s it sound? In the case of the Zimmermann Note, pretty damn well.

Sounding relatively close in sound to the defunct As Hope Dies, TZN rip through five songs with complete ferocity and reckless abandon. All the staples are present: Double bass, breakdowns, and searing vocals, but somehow they retain a real fresh, interesting dichotomy in the songs that make everything worth a second, third, and fourth listen. It’s just difficult to pin down, as you know nothing different is taking place, but it’s still relatively engaging. “Onyx Tide” wastes no time in establishing itself in an aggressive manner, with clean and distorted guitars both raging as lead singer Travis French’s versatile range is explored. “New Deception” starts out with some terrific clean riffing, and it only increased in intensity from there. Avoiding a pitfall many bands make, the Zimmermann Note opt to not include any sung vocals, so there’s nothing to bog down the overall flow. Nothing but relentless work on the guitar as well as the drums.

Things don’t truly let loose however until the chaotic “Pascal’s Wager,” in which the band just completely lets loose, and all bets are off. No doubt the fastest, heaviest song on the album, each member of the band is playing their respective instrument as hard and as fast as possible, but it still sounds extremely tight, and the undercurrents of clean guitar contrast the pounding dissonance better than any other single spot on the album. When the chaos does finally subside, it is carried out by the sounds of a church hymn being sung. There’s no religious overtones to speak of, but that kind of singing really goes against the grain of what was played previously.

For fans of the genre, picking up New Deception is an absolute no-brainer. The speed of As Hope Dies, combined with the power of Darkest Hour, and a little bit of At the Gates for good measure, and you’ve got a healthy dose of metal aimed at nothing more than kicking you in the ass. Mission successful.



People who liked this also liked:
Shot Baker - Shot BakerBurial Year - PestilenceBalboa / Nitro Mega Prayer - SplitAs Hope Dies - As Hope DiesThe First Step - What We KnowHaunted Life / Make or Break - SplitDead Hearts - Bitter VersesPath of Resistance - Can't Stop the TruthWires on Fire - Wires on FirePansy Division - The Essential Pansy Division [CD/DVD]

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.
Anonymous (June 23, 2006)

i got their shirt for $1.19.. so i am verrry happy w. them

Anonymous (December 29, 2005)

holy shit that looks like exactly like the striking distance cd on thorprecords. i hope this band gets sued

Anonymous (December 4, 2005)

Score is for the their website link

Anonymous (December 3, 2005)

Striking distance's album art is almost identical. They get credit. They did it first.

Anonymous (December 3, 2005)

i like the band name

ILOVESCOTT (December 2, 2005)

great review

Anonymous (December 2, 2005)

Shouldn't you Pittsburg kids be hyping Caustic Christ? I hype Caustic Christ and I'm not even from your town.

rkl (December 2, 2005)

wait, i thought repetition killed the cat.
so its okay to do .no metal like everyones done before, but gang-vox hardcore is not?
color this cat confused.

Anonymous (December 2, 2005)

what is up with this website of theirs

Anonymous (December 2, 2005)

they stole the cover idea from striking distance

backupdork (December 2, 2005)

*afforementioned score.

backupdork (December 2, 2005)

i know these dudes! score's for me.

xrobotcorex (December 2, 2005)

Haha yeah representin the iron city!

i saw these guys when my friends' band metafore opened for them at smalls. they were pretty good. not to mention their drummer used to be in better off dead m/

Testiclese (December 2, 2005)

woooooooooooooooo 1st why just one review up now

kirbypuckett (December 2, 2005)

PITTSBURGH REPRESENT!

- Kirby

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