Labels: Blood of the Young
Review by: Andy Malcolm
At last, at-fucking-last. You wouldn’t believe how long I have been waiting to get my hands on this miniature piece of non-history. Like who really cares about Song of Zarathrusta? Some non-entity band out of the States that put a couple of songs out and disappeared. So then, why did the first press of this little piece on the Devil’s own Blood of the Young records sell out? Why did they have to repress it? I’ll tell you why: because Song of Zarathrusta were (ARE! they’ve reformed!) grade A fucking ace.
This band donated a song to the great Satanic Lords (cower at the mere mention of their name, mortal) of screamo hardcore, Witching Hour. Therefore, they are pretty much guaranteed of greatness. WH is not a label, it’s an institution. That everything they put out these days is unequivocally great is a given. And that every band connected with that label loves skulls is a sure fire cert also. So, on side one of this rather fetching picture disc is a red skull. And some songs! Burn it down!
SOZ is unmitigated screamo. Whilst Honeywell can surely lay claim to starting the movement, you can give credit to Angel Hair for making the genre a touch less of a headfuck. SOZ love their Angel Hair. This music is chaotic and blistering, fueled by screams ripped from the throats of combatwounded men, yet with guitars that follow a vaguely melodic thread, even amidst all that destruction and noise. Classics include the dynamite “Black & Blue Award” which tops out at around 100mph, powered by some appropriately Red Scare-esque bass (their nearest comparison in the modern day ‘scene’). It is with great sadness that I learned my copy of the vinyl decides to skip 3 times on this demon of a track.
SOZ also demonstrate their Witching Hour appeal by chucking in some appropriate cheesy piano fit for a black and white movie about a haunted house. Sheer horrific class.
Scream or die.