Under Sanford Parker’s supervision, Atlanta-based trio Zoroaster have finally come into its own as a full-fledged group with their latest and without any doubts greatest album to date called “Matador”.The musical result from this studio collaboration between Zoroaster and Parker, who always confers a warm, organic and at the same time obscure tone to his productions, allows that the psychedelic influences and the narcotic somnolence of Pink Floyd that have in one way or another permeated Zoroaster’s past works in small stretches are now more audible and prominent in detriment of the band’s more corrosive and aggressive features. The opening theme “D.N.R.” is a good example of this unequivocal shift in direction towards a more psychedelic, hypnotic and less corrosive style. It presents the rhythmic section composed by bass player vocalist Brent Anderson and drummer Dan Scanlan playing at a languid pace along with the simple and seductive guitar of Will Fiore, who also adopts some changes to his singing style, embracing a deeper and cleaner tone that has a hypnotic feel and makes of “D.N.R.” one of the best tracks of the whole album.
The current proposal of Zoroaster is definitely better experienced in a calm and relaxed environment as it shows the trio’s spacey rock sound at their most laid-back and dynamic mood, yet nevertheless the songs never seem to loose their head-banging and groovy potential. Throughout “Matador”, there’s plenty of rock-out energy to counter-balance with their psychedelic extravaganza, like the jam-spirited “Odyssey” or the downright rocking “Trident” that emanates a MC5 meets Kyuss vibe. Not to mention “Black Hole” which borders on a black-metal style not too far removed from Nachtmystium.
“Matador” is an exciting and slightly new embodiment of Zoroaster’s sound, a landmark that hopefully portents sounds to come. (8/10)
David Alexandre
Band info: www.myspace.com/thezoroaster
Label info: www.kochentertainment.com
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