In terms of recent output of awesome bands, Australia is doing pretty damn well. From modern metalcore mainstays, to prog specialists, the island nation has been pumping out countless great releases. On February 7th, underground band Zeolite released their new EP, titled “Sermones Mortis”, showing off the band’s style of technical death metal with heavy influence from groove metal. “Malignant” opens up this album, and does so in an interesting way. With a soft, ambient opening, and a longer soft section that fades out in the end, not a whole lot of this song is the death metal that the band usually brings. However, that short section of death metal makes one hell of an impact. The band is able to make their sound stand out, and show off their writing ability in a short amount of time. Up next is “Repudiation”, a song that immediately starts of extremely heavy. This song is fast paced, and introduces the dark tone that also populates this album.
“Reticent” is the interlude on this album, breaking up the first two and last two sets of tracks, but don’t let this song fool you, the band doesn’t slow down. Instead this song feels like every other one of their songs, death metal that goes straight for the jugular. Except they rely just on the instrumentals. “Ruination” is next, and this song is a bit slower, moving at more of a previous pace than the last couple. This song is angry, and shows how death metal can communicate genuine emotion. “Plutocracy” ends this short EP, and does so without taking its foot off of the accelerator in any way. The band continues being angry, and they have the heaviness to back it up. This song also has an added guitar solo, and some of the tightest writing on the album, ending it on a solid note. This is very good. The vocals and instrumentals are both strong, and the production is good for the most part, at some points the lead guitar is too quiet. This band is another one in the catalogue of amazing Aussie bands, and one that shouldn’t be missed by metal fans.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Sam Hookom
