Abbey Nex - Zondustrial

Never one to be sitting on his ass not creating music, Abbey Nex has found the time to self release his debut digital only album, Zondustrial. A ten track album consisting of very noisey, industrial beats mixed with a healthy dose of old school sounds, I don't really think anyone is going to find much of a reason to not like this release. And, if they do, they must either be one of those conservative Christian mothers who protect their children from Halloween by calling the dark holiday the H-word, or they just have terrible taste in music.

Now, in order to get more of a taste for what you might be getting yourself involved in, know that this musician is the guitarist/bassist of Combichrist, bassist of Genitorturers, guitarist of The Witch Was Right, and former bassist and drummer of both Psyclon Nine and Nocturne. Not to mention, he also performs and sometimes writes with his life partner, Valerie Gentile. So, as I said in the previous paragraph, he's a very busy man.

Nonetheless, he gave birth to his first solo outing, Zondustrial, and each track moves and plays differently from the last. Which is really a great thing to have since a lot of alums I listen to don't know how to differentiate one track from the next. Kicking off with some industrial metal that's awesomely noisey is Essermooter. The low quality sound fits extremely well, and the crazed out and psychedelic vocal work fits well within the chaos. It was demented beauty in a pure form.

Elevate The Pressure gave off a more clean sound in comparison to the previous, more so letting go of the heavy presence of metal influences (though it does sort of make a return towards the end of the song) and stuck with more of an industrial beat. A robotic vocal set ties in nicely, and the drum work really carries this song along to the end.

Excuses went on a much darker, somewhat ambient route. Piano work kicks in, with a lot of sounds that make it feel as if a blackly dressed killer is about to sneak up on the next harlot in its presence and slash the whore to bits and pieces. The song also comes off with an amazing cabaret feeling, and I can only imagine this being played in the middle of an abandoned theater by a psychotic mad man. The latter half of the song moves right into some more noise and metal territory, which was surprising, but was also pretty awesome.

The intro of False Mystics laid out some samples on top of a distorting beat. When the vocals flow in, the screeching on top of the low-fi guitar sounds just rung distastefully gorgeous in my ears. Though the song did slow down for a bit around the two minute mark, allowing a break for your ears, to mutilation doesn't stay away for long as the song slams you back into the anarchy sooner rather than later.

The Point moved back into the industrial metal category, and it was pretty nice as to how it was done. With multi-layered guitars and vocals, there's a main frame of sound whilst an almost echoing, darker version of the song plays right underneath it. The Solution moved the album right along before presenting Assuming Life's Mysteries, the shortest track coming in at two and a half minutes plus one second. A decent electronic beat formed surrounded by all sorts of other oddities formed, still having just this dark trail following it; I could imagine this track being used in a sort of noir film where everything is weird and spooky.

Spite actually introduced the first track to perhaps feature the cleanest vocals thus far. More spoken out than anything with those odd electronic sounds puncturing the overall breadth of the release, this track sort of turned out to be a favorite of mine on the album.

Devoid actually provided a very light turn of events on the album; soothing, well done, and just quiet in comparison to previous efforts, it only really gets a bit more damning when the final crunchy, electronic guitar fills in the final minute of the track. Lastly, Comprehension takes us back to the low-fi guitar shredding and shrieking that was present before, but twists it into a whole new fashion. Needless to say, the album goes out on a high note.

And, I love when I can review music like this. With hardly a complaint, I simply sit here and smile as I type and clatter away at keys to an album which, throughout the past few hours, I have come to know and love. It's nice, it really is, and with saying that, I can easily tout that Zondustrial is a must listen to for all you folks who enjoy odd music. From roots in craze filled noise, to the overall disenchanting allure of some hazy metal, to the random clashes of electronic sounds in industrial, there's a whole lot to love on this album.

Oct 08 2014