Zombi-Spirit Animal

Zombi
Spirit Animal
Album Review
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I am not going to beat around the bush, Zombi is weird and I would not prefer them any other way. Fueled to by two creative minds from Pittsburgh, influenced by the music of Goblin and the horror movie soundtracks from John Carpenter films, Zombi brings forth some of the greatest neo-progressive, cinematic space rock that continues to mesmerize metal heads, movie geeks, and music lovers from all across the spectrum and bring them back thirsty for more. Zombi was always a guilty pleasure for me, but lately I have met so many individuals who are literally mad about this music, loving every minute of its synth soundscapes and poly-rhythmic percussive work. What I love most about Zombi, is they love what they do and are consistent in the music they make. With their third full length, Spirit Animal, they bring music that is intense, beautiful, and could easy be used for a suspense/horror film circa 1981.

With Spirit Animal, Zombi is both bombastic and intricate, exhibiting obvious influences far beyond the Goblin/John Carpenter dichotomy, ranging from Tangerine Dream, Yes, and even a hint or two of early Gabriel-era Genesis. Compared to the rest of their catalogue, Spirit Animal sprinkles a bit more space/prog rock into the mix, still remaining true to the overall cinematic effect of the music itself. This album mixes together the perfect goulash of atmospheric swell and dramatic contrasts, progressive rhythms and dark cheesiness that would tickle the fancy of any prog/metal head, horror movie buff, and stereotypical music weirdo like myself. The opening track, which also serves as the title track is very large and almost regal sounding, as if it were announcing the arrival of something gargantuan, for instance the large, stampeding bull elephant as depicted on the front panel of the album. The record moves on to tracks that are much more progressive, some sounding close to the accompaniment to a long-lost video game of the 1980's. Most of all, what Zombi and Spirit Animal are is a breath of fresh air; something new and different in a day where most music sounds the same and a reminder of how things once were in the worlds of music and horror cinema.

-Andrew Bryant