Genre/Influences: Industrial-rap, ambient, hip-hop.

Background/Info: Zonal is the meeting –and comeback, of  Justin Broadrick (JK Flesh, Godflesh) and Kevin Martin  (involved with numerous projects like The Bug, King Midas Sound ao). They both already worked together in the early 90s under the God moniker. They also released an album as Zonal in 2000. “Wrecked” is their newest opus featuring Moor Mother.

Content: “Wrecked” features 2 distinguishable parts. You first get 6 tracks featuring Moor Mother and next you’ll hear 6 instrumental cuts. The songs featuring Moor Mother are something really special; the music is the fusion between industrial and trip-hop while the vocals are pure rap. It creates something really unique –or at least I’m not used to hear industrial-rap or –trip-hop. It creates an anguishing feeling, the music being raw and the slow cadence creating an imaginary state or paranoia.

The other tracks left are quite similar in sound, but remain instrumental versions. The music is a little less more industrial-minded, but still featuring poignant ambient, icy passages.

+ + + : This Zonal album definitely deserves an award for most original industrial album of the year or should I say most creative hip-hop album of the year? I prefer to assimilate it with industrial music because of raw sound treatments and overwhelming atmospheres. This is an extremely dark opus accentuated by the rap vocals of Moor Mother. The album brings a succession of great cuts and I have to confess, I’ve already listened to this work a few times.

– – – : The main difficulty for Zonal will be to catch the attention of a wider audience. I’m confident they’re on the right label to get the recognition they deserve, but this mix of styles is a hard challenge!

Conclusion: “Wrecked” is without a shadow of doubt an album I’ll keep in mind! This project proves it’s absolutely possible to bring opposite styles together, but in the end we have to admit that nothing is impossible when it comes to making good music.

Best songs: “Debris”, “Wrecked”, “In A Cage feat. Moor Mother”, “Body Of Wire feat. Moor Mother”, “Black Hole Orbit”, “Medulla feat. Moor Mother”.

Rate: (9).

Artist: www.facebook.com/jkflesh / www.facebook.com/kevinrichardmartinofficial

Label: www.relapse.com / www.facebook.com/RelapseRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com