As I head into the opening titular track of the new and sixth Zabus album, Avoidance Moon, I get the strange sensation that I am listening to two different tracks at the same time. On the one hand, there is a thread built on the same baritone brilliance of the Brendan Perry voiced Dead Can Dance canon. On the other hand, there is a cascade of angular sonic objects and the feeling that someone is building a soundscape that is an anagram of Bauhaus, more challenging sounds. Off-kilter, off-putting, off its head, strangely disarming, beguiling, and fantastic.
And just this one track gets to the heart of what Zabus is all about. It is challenging and often uncomfortable, but amongst the anger and caustic creativity, there are moments of beauty too. The same way that there is beauty to be found in decaying buildings and the glacial collapse of industrial plants. It’s all in the eye (or should that be ear) of the beholder.
“Leather Mouth” shows Zabus’ more groove-oriented side, still a song built of raw sonics and deliberately overloaded sounds (main man Jeremy Moore admits that much of the signature sound is derived from pushing outdated technology to breaking point) but one shot through with early Cure guitar lines and danceable beats. “Punishment to Extinction” is as austere as the title suggests, booming, bombastic, brutal, brilliant, and “Science of Seance” is the dark, despair that acts as the album’s full stop.
Avoidance Moon is like little you will have heard before (or perhaps lots of things you have heard before woven densely and unexpectedly together), but that is the point. Zabus doesn’t sound like any other band you can think of. Avoidance Moon has little in common with the band’s other albums, and listening to one track on the album doesn’t really prepare you for the one that follows.
It’s about adventure, experimentation, and avant-gardery! You can throw around tags such as post-punk, goth, dark wave, post-metal, etc., until you are blue in the face, but the best way to listen to a Zabus album is to clear the mind, settle back, expect the unexpected, and take what is coming. You’ll probably enjoy it too…you kinky little sonic minx!
