ZAYN - FIELDS OF GOD
(September 15th, 2015, Independent)
Zayn hail from Croatia, Bjelovar. As they themselves say "Broken industrial city in the heart of Croatia wrapped in depression and anxiety...". This setting clearly influences their music which is often very heavy, dark, and at times quite unsettling. Zayn are an ambitious instrumental quartet since their beginnings. In 2014 they released two albums; the debut, Medeia - inspired by the greek tragedy by Euripides (parts of which were used in a theater play of the same name), and only a month later, the same year, Café Mably, based on "La Nausée" by Jean-Paul Sartre, which was recorded live in a theater in their hometown.
Last year they released Fields of God, in my opinion their most professionally written, recorded and produced album to date. Medeia was leaning mostly towards the post-rock / post metal sound, and it seemed Zayn were playing it a bit safe (although it did have quite original moments, especially in the rhythm section), but already at Café Mably they ventured into a very jazzy, psychedelic and experimental direction fused with heavy, monolithic riffs. On Fields of Gold they polished their sound and, it seems, found what they were going for.
The power of Zayn lies within their fantastic drummer and bassist. These two make a huge and extremely solid backbone for the two guitarists, who also do amazing job in either laying some heavy riffing or creating layered, ambiental sound collages. They often shift between the two showing their good knowledge of dynamics. The unusual rhythm patterns also often change within the songs making the music very unpredictable. Fields of God remind me of a huge, unearthly, everchanging monolith drifting and resonating throughout space.
This is a very promising band. I also highly recommend checking out their live performance if you get the chance. Expect loud, chest punching sounds executed with high precision. This is not happy, dancable music...this is hard hitting, psychedelic band well worth of your time if you want to hear something new and original.
- Luka
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