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Zeeb? The Battle For Zeeb? Beta

Wed 11th October 2006

Kev

/incoming/zeeb.jpgHmmm... Excuse my initial trepidation here - Zeeb? are essentially a pop/rock band, ninehertz is a stoner/sludge/doom webzine. Uh oh... Anyway, let's give you a bit of background on Zeeb? - cue press release...

'Originally landing in Shropshite in 1864 ZEEB? have been hidden away perfecting their art in order to woo females, mate, and assimilate planet Earth. Claiming responsibility for every technological advance Earth has seen over the last 500 years and every musical innovation in the 20th century (including inventing rock and roll in the southern states of the USA in the 1920s) ZEEB? are bold as brass and twice as reflective.'

For those of you that remain, this EP documents the escape of the band from a prison planet of mutant dogs (???) and kicks off in fine style with 'Lazer Wire' a frenetic stop/start surf punk romp reminiscent of genre kings Man Or Astroman? that actually does create a sense of atmosphere for the rest of the release to hopefully build on.

The three middle tracks are more representative of Zeeb's overall poppy-rock sound - 'She Bot' is a snarling Billy Corgan fronting Placebo affair, 'The Aurora Kills' could easily have been a long lost Ash b-side from back in the day and 'Detachable Ed' is a playful blast that brings to mind criminally underrated Scottish band Magicdrive. Perhaps more pleasing from my own perspective is that Zeeb have started to form their own identity in their songs and also gone down a more aggressive sounding path - something that really was a problem in a majority of their often limp 'MockCockSpockShockRock' album.

Closing track 'The Demise Of Ayebeum' is a 6 minute instrumental that is the nearest the guys get to the 'stoner' sound that other reviews have proudly trumpeted. It combines the tried and tested (and currently popular) quiet loud quiet formula - good old heavy riffage intertwined with more delicate fragments complete with subliminal whisperings. Although it seemed a bit lacking in direction, the track seems to increasingly fly by with every repeated listen. Odd. Perhaps I'm being surreptitiously assimilated into the Zeeb way of thinking...

So, to sum up - whether I'll actually convince anyone reading this on ninehertz to go and buy a copy of this EP is pretty questionable, but it is a well put together collection of songs with enough little touches to make them stand out from the others and a vast jump up from their previous offerings. Did I mention the free 12 page comic?

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