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To be honest I just came across this Austrian thrash band, but learnt that they released the EP Only Time in 2005 and a year later the album The Desert Of Reality. The quartet has no deal and financed the recording and mastering themselves.
The album kicks off with The Enemy Within (Devil's Aid Part 1). First some thundering noise and a scream. Fast riffs speeding off. The vocals of singer and guitarist Harald Berger is deep and rough. Partly growls, partly clean vocals - and even if they are based in thrash metal there are some death metal elements... Zerofour varies in speed and so keep the listeners interest. But they also use spoken word parts. The lyrics are dealing with war, religion and politics - and have some socio-criticism embedded. Mid-paced is Where Is Your God Now? and the riffing partly remind me somehow of some Scorpions tune... At least is seems to be based in 80's metal. Harald's growls build a sharp contrast to the guitar melody and riffing. While Warfaith is a heavy groove monster - in the beginning! Monolithic guitar riffs first, but then they speed up and it becomes a fast thrash'n'death tune. The Eternal Pain (Devil's Aid Part II) uses an unusual drum pattern and get quite intense due to the whispered parts And the backings remind me a bit of Mercyful Fate.... Its the way they sound... And it's the contrast of whispered words, clean vocals and growls which keep the listener's interest during this 6 min. long tune. The Austrians don't hesitate to try new things and push the limits. With Zeronation they head into trash'n'death again. Again its the guitars of Emanuel Pichler and Harald Berger which stands out, but also the varying vocals of Harald. A good tune to check out this band! Or you take time to listen to the last tune The Dreadful Genocide (Devil's Aid Part III) with its more then 11 minutes. It has all the trademarks of Zerofour's sound - and some more. It sums up what's Zerofour's music is about, even if here they add some female vocals.
Well done! Fans of thrash'n'death should check out this band!
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