New Music – The Dead Walk

 

Zorn is a beautiful throwback to the fun loving days of punk rock, from the first sample of Smaug from The Hobbit delivering a mighty description of “My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath, Death!” While setting the war-like opening, Zorn soon launches into their first track “Star Reacher”, which is a complete breath of fresh air when coming to a genre like metal or punk music.

With a sudden deep, foreboding guitar from Jake that seems to echo when played along the percussion from Evan, immense rumbling occurs from beyond the surface and Zorn packs a sudden sucker-punch as Zorn’s vocalist, Eric releases a scream that sends the slowed approach into a complete frenzy. The last 30-seconds of “Star Reacher” is an utter powerhouse of blaring guitars, pounding percussion and bass, tied along with a verbal assault that shakes ears, rattles the mind, and leaves the listener begging for more.

With production coming from Nate Patsfall who had done work in the past with the likes of Iron Cages, Prom Night, and even Dazey and the Scouts, Patsfall has enough experience working with different genres of music that working with the genre-blending style of Zorn is unchallenging and Zorn sounds incredible. The production is crisp, clear, but still has that certain level of strength that supports Zorn, making their sound become a complete full experience. As Zorn continues on to the self-titled track, “Cemetery Man,” Zorn is in a sprint to the finish. Every instrumentalist is cranking away at the musical machine and makes for an under a minute journey where the guitar can feed off of the energy of the percussion, which feeds into the vocals that shout away before coming to a brick wall of a halt, seguing into “Intergalactic Queen”.

As the midpoint of Cemetery Man slides into frame, Zorn shows not a single sign of controlling their actions and they become even more animalistic as Eric the vocalist brings a short, but rugged grunt followed by a howling laugh as the floodgates burst open. Zorn makes Cemetery Man incredibly high-octane without sacrificing quality as well. The guitar has a subtle, but ripping solo where it seems to move along the fret board almost effortlessly. This solo is also what leads Zorn into a fast break where every instrument begins to clash together and complete a power struggle between the hit-squad Philadelphia.

The final act of Cemetery Man also happens to be the longest track of the record, spanning just over the two-minute mark. Zorn again takes no seconds to recover and launches head first into “Comix Zone”. Focusing more on getting lyrics from all of the members of Zorn, the band shouts together, “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll puke., you’ll die.” Zorn also fluctuates in variety of layering in their stylistic approach to their tracks, especially present on “Comix Zone,” is the consistently changing riffs and steady sections that switch from a two-step moshing style to a drawn out and complex style that draws attention to the abrupt, staccato notes being played in unison.

Zorn makes a crashing entrance and leaves just as quickly as they began, they bring back a new found level of excitement in punk rock and prove to everyone that punk rock is still alive and well.

Listen to Cemetery Man Here!!! – Bandcamp

Header Photo BY: MR. FOUR FINGERS