Zebulon Pike - And Blood Was Passion
Unfortunate Music
Progressive Stoner Doom
5 songs (48 Mins)
Release year: 2004
Zebulon Pike
Reviewed by Dee
Archive review

Ever bitten off more than you can chew? After considering the soundclips available at their site, I ordered this CD expecting a prog-tinged piece of amp worship that I could relax to, but it was not to be. I was the deer in Zebulon Pike's headlights from the very first play.

The four-piece group in question are from Minnesota and have noticeably germanic names, and that's about all the information I can glean. A pair of guitarists and a rhythm section, so we'll be facing entirely instrumental music. I could hazard a guess at them being late twenties/early thirties musos, who share a love for the best music from the 70s. The CD packaging doesn't exactly help this quest for information; nor does it offer any sort of clue as to what sort of music you'd be expecting, but of course this is relatively unknown and if you've purchased this, you think you already know.

The first track bears the curious title, "The Iommi Variations" which has to be considered a slight clue. It opens heavily with a slow riff which refuses to be major or minor over which a second guitar soon begins to play mathematic leads inspired both progressive and 20th century classical music. Bass supports adeptly, occasionally taking detours and performing well-timed runs. Drumming remains cursory throughout. This is the style in which the majority of the CD is played and it can be quite a struggle to keep your head above the surface; you're exposed to minutes of challenging lead at a time, often embellished with dischords, drizzled over non-standard time signatures and sudden, jarring changes. All this strikes me as a definite nod to King Crimson, and also to Schoenburg. The guitar sound reminds me more of Rush and Led Zeppelin, albeit with a lot more low-end. Breathtaking is exactly the right word to describe their music.

However, halfway through the second track, "Aztec Parallels" it becomes evident that something is missing from the formula. In a word, transition. The average passage in any song is perfectly realised and almost impossibly complicated, but the band simply hops between them! It could be likened to a portrait painter taking weeks over each masterpiece and then stapling them together. It reminds me of the "All Change!" part of Supper's Ready by Genesis, except the train conductor here would shout it every two minutes.

Let's not get carried away; these are still good songs. "Howl of Wicca", the second twelve minute piece, is particularly avant-garde; occasionally the bass drops away leaving ethereal guitars picking out alien chords in a dynamic game of guess-the-key. "Under Capricorn" is my pick of the album as it opens with a reflective acoustic piece before it stomps you with the heaviest riff possible, and then reprieves the earlier piece in maybe the only really satisfying use of continuity on the whole CD. "Pillars of Hercules" closes; again, it is a suite of brilliant ideas with disappointing structure. It strikes me that three of these songs would be a lot more convincing if they began with an overture.

If you're a fan of the seventies prog or hard rock scene (and if you're not, why not?) then you should definetly visit Zebulon Pike's website and digest the samples. If you are scared by bands like Between the Buried and Me or Opeth - other bands which heap riffs and passages together without any glue to speak of - then perhaps you should wait for the follow up to And Blood Was Passion, due this summer. Let's hope they've learned their lesson by then.

Killing Songs :
The Iommi Variations, Under Capricorn
Dee quoted 72 / 100
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