Zud - The Good, The Bad and the Damned

Zud play a genre bending blend of hardcore/punk rock'n'roll

with a definite black metal overtone which morphs into

heavy psych blowouts.

Sounds confusing but Zud pull it off with a collection of songs

that just fucking make you want to play it louder than everything else.

After an intro, you have four song ranging between 8 to 12 minutes

which give the band time to stretch out song compositions and really

get a heavy groove going.

All the tracks are pretty much mid-paced which helps the songs

retain their own identity. Sonic denseness is the key factor which

holds everything together. Grunting, rasped vocals rather than

the generic "cookie monster" means you can actually hear the

menacing lyrics. 

"Skull Shaped Hell" throbs with promised violence until halfway

through you realise that you have gone from gigantic walls of sound

and blast beats to a late '60's blues freak-out. Showing that this is

only the beginning, in "Blood & Twilight", gentle picked guitar

strings float through the chaos until the noise returns but with

the end passage containing echoed solos that remind me of the

madness contained within the Dead Kennedys early work, 

twisting and turning within the structure to an almost epic finale.

The guitar solos have a classic feel that reference the best of heavy Detroit - 

MC5, Cooper, Nugent and Williamson Stooges. Think Brian James meets

"Fast" Eddie Clarke from the english end of things ....... tuneful, economical

and heartfelt - no fret wanking, just wild abandon and soul.

Highly recommended.

Thanks as always to Earsplit PR for links.

Band Blurb:

There are a few of them left out there. None are nearby Most are dead anyway. The castle has been under a long siege and strange things go on behind walls when death is such a good old pal... In one sense four years in the making, yet in another thrown together in six months. And so, out of the dead end peninsula of Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, ZUD presents their debut full-length, The Good, The Bad And The Damned.

Infectiously and seamlessly merging the aesthetics of black metal and classic rock, delivering tunes with an exceedingly organic delivery and live-for-now outlook, ZUD somehow does something vibrant and fresh while simultaneously paying homage to those who forged the paths the four members have traveled thus far in life. Recorded and mixed by Todd Hutchinson (Falls of Rauros, AOK Suicide Forest) at Acadia Recording Company in Portland, Maine and mastered by Tore Stjerna (Watain, Repugnant) at Necromorbus Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, The Good, The Bad And The Damned hits fucking hard with more than forty minutes of killer, free-form, high-octane metal perfect for those late Summer night parties full of suds and bud, while keeping you aware of the fact that no matter how good or bad life may be, death is always within spitting distance.

For those who lack imagination, ZUD plays old-school sleazy n’ cheesy blues-rockin’ black metal, like old Mayhem and older Bathory mixed with Roky Erickson, early Van Halen, Ash Ra Temple and a slew of other classic rock, psyche and various NWOBHM influences. It is harsh, it shreds, it kills and crushes, but it is also hypnotizing, trance-inducing and still catchy and fun as all fucking hell. This is music to die to, to cry to, to get high to, to bang your fucking head to. But most of all it is fuel for the souls of those true rock n’ roll outlaws who still wander around on their infinite journeys; be it on the iron dragons, an iron horse or on foot. Those who know that no friends or glory await at the end of the line, only death... and that there is nothing to do about it but to learn to enjoy the torture that is life in the bizarre but unique opportunities which it can present. To embrace the wastelands in the pouring rain. To smile at death. To wink back at the world when the time comes, knowing that the only thing left to say is “later twerps...”

For contact and ordering, go to the Zud website Here