Combine the sounds and ambiance of Herrschaft, Pain and Clan of Xymox and I reckon you’re close to Ground Zero System. This is the second Industrial Metal production from the Norwegian band, who demonstrate that they know how to mix electro darkness with Melodic Metal in an imaginative way.
I can’t think of a more impressive or imposing opening than “Endgame”. It smacks you in the face. This album is essentially a dark landscape but whilst “Endgame” has the heaviness to which we are to become accustomed, it is hooky and has enough light to allow us to breathe it in and enjoy the moment. Rumbustious beats are helped along by infusions of dark synthesised keyboards. Roared vocals are cried from a distance. There’s tons of melody and, punishing headbanging passages and total energy. A bit of everything, really. It gets darker as the album progresses but the melodic tone is set. Thickening clouds circulate and dominate the heavy electro-industrial framework of “False Flags” but it flows. Crashing anvils start “iConoclasm”. The vocals match the mechanical mood and blackened electro-driven beat, and give it a terrifying quality. Chaos threatens, but is averted by the constant and punishing beat of the drums and the bass.
By “Sensory Domination” it’s as if we’re in the middle of the factory, standing in darkness and surrounded by dark industrial processes. The keys are used imaginatively. What’s important is that as well as being a model of melodic industrial darkness, there are plenty of twists, turns and unexpected intrusions, and so it’s interesting to listen to. Samples are not overused but when they are, they are used to great effect, as on “iConoclasm” and the final and majestic track “”Freebasing Democracy”. Ground Zero System never linger. “Counterculture” doesn’t churn on. Darkly constant as it is, it still manages to be exciting with the kaleidoscope of sounds going into the mix. In fact “Blackout Revolution” steps up a notch and is fast and energetic, while being as ever multi-coloured and of course in the dark zone. I heard the Death Metal intensity of Crematory and Disbelief, especially on the “Sensory Domination”, “Blackout Revolution” and “Fed to the Wyrm”. The drums thunder on into the night. It’s not Avant-garde in any way. These are proper songs with traditional developments and choruses, but done in a very dark and magnetic way. Moments of electro vaudeville and grotesqueness interject the melodic darkness and threaten chaos, which never happens thanks to the constant and driving beat which runs through this album.
The bottom line here is that I really enjoyed “Counterculture”. It hooked me in and excited me with its magnetic beat, subtle developments and turns and moments of originality. No enhancement is out of place on this dark, industrial affair. “Counterculture” is refreshing and imaginative, and as an album has great balance. In short, it is an excellent album.
http://www.groundzerosystem.com
Andrew Doherty
MTUK HOME
