I’m on a huge “math” kick right now with my rotating playlist consisting of the usual faces and some new ones too (Thefalls are one of those such faces). I’m never content with just a little bit of something great because moderation is for weak ass fools. Now, for more math metal. A little bit more based, depraved and vicious than my last foray into sharing the world of multiplication, subtraction etc, Zapruder are their own cult hit. I was recently made aware of their most recent release, Fall In Line, and it is one with all the momentum of a high velocity rifle bullet leaving a grassy knoll and taking flesh, blood and bone with it.
This French firing squad make it difficult for measly music “journalist” types to lump in with other acts to get anyone interested. Now, before you can say “great, another hard to pigeon hole band that play chaotic riffs with random sax solos and horor synths”, let me just agree with you. There are a lot of bands that shoe horn this kind of “random” chaos into their music just for the sake of it. Zapruder, even on their worst day, are not one of them. More like they learnt The Chariot‘s discography and then decided to play it backwards, skipping every third note and replacing it with one of their own. That’s the kind of obscure comparison I deem fitting for this lot. If you want to hear Biffy Clyro in some of their jangly guitar parts, you will hear it. If you can’t stand those beardy Scottish arena rockers then have no fear, you’ll probably hear something more akin to Exotic Animal Petting Zoo or KEN mode. Noisy, rambunctious and with more funk than Destrage (OK, maybe just as much), it’s little wonder why I have such a boner for this band.
The murder mystery at the symphony eeriness of “Cyclops” is a foil to the party smashing nature of shorter tracks like “Doppelgangër”; a track that has black metal face fucking an out of tune guitar to the sounds of The Beach Boys. What’s more fun (I know, even more fun than what I just described?) is the band’s reluctance to let any one section or riff last for very long. Even the Bungle esque filler “Delusion Junction” threatens to break out into full blown Sergio Lone spaghetti western. There’s hundreds of blink and you’ll miss moments but this just makes Fall In Line all the more addictive and, dare I say it, astronomically superior to 99% of everything that’s been released this year already. That’s even with the inclusion of an “acoustic” number that had me reaching for the noose and chair. Yep, they even pull off a slow sad song with relative ease. The talented bastards.
-MM