Yes, I know that looks like a Journey album cover. No, this is not a Journey cover band. No, I will not play Don’t Stop Believin’. Will you leave me alone and let me finish typing this thing out? OK, yes, I agree. Steve Perry is a very pretty man. Can I get back to this now?
Jesus, where was I going with this?
I remember back in the day when debut albums were just raw as fuck. Go back and listen to Killing Is My Business by Megadeth or the first Iron Maiden album. Both are great albums, but the production value is just prehistoric. Hell, New American Gospel by Lamb of God is rendered almost unlistenable because of the poor production value. Whenever I would hear a promising debut album, it always led me to wonder, “Jeez, it’s going to be amazing a few albums down the road to see how far these guys have progressed.”
This is not really the case these days with the advances in digital music recording technology. There are so many bands putting out debut albums that just sound amazingly polished and professional. This is one positive aspect for bands starting out these days. At least they get that one thing, because it seems like everything else about trying to break into the music business is so much harder these days.
In this light, I bring you the debut of Zaius, a new instrumental band in the vein of If These Trees Could Talk and fellow Chicagoans, Russian Circles. Listen to this thing and it is just amazing that this is the debut. Based on the level of musicianship and the polished sound on this album, you’d guess that these guys have been at this game for 20 years or so. There has got to be something in the water or air in the midwest region of the United States because the amount of quality instrumental metal bands coming out that general region is just amazing. Zaius has tapped into that well of inspiration in which they can craft a song with no vocals and still be able to convey a message without words. It’s impressive. Even though they’ve mastered the production value on this debut, I’m still looking forward to see how far these guys progress three to four albums down the road. Maybe they’ll even pull out a cover of Don’t Stop Believin’ for you.
4 flip flops out of 5