Album Review – ZEBEDY – Marionette
I have a funny affair with Zebedy‘s music, sometimes they annoy the fuck out of me and other times I find them inspiring! It’s one of those mental block things I guess; I played their previous album ‘Exist’ to absolute death, so much that they sit 35th in my Last FM overall playlist, and when you consider how much music I actually listen to, then that’s no mean feat!
So Marionette has sat there looking at me from the inbox, and grumbling every now and then, ‘Hey Crud, are you gonna review me or not?
The answer is ‘No.’ ha ha…
Low volume does not do this album justice at all, to coin a phrase, it needs to be cranked up really high. It has highs, it has lows… sometimes over indulgent, sometimes uneccessary extra riffage chucked in when a song would’ve been better ended, but more times it’s banging and fat in your face. They have tunes pouring out of them, which accounts for the short interludes like To Whom It May Concern, World Outside, Silver Strings, Still Water, What Lies Beneath. And it conceptually runs seemlessly from one track into another; the mark of a lot of hard work in the studio and rehearsal rooms.
Zebedy should fall outside the remit of my musical sphere, but they are a guilty pleasure and when they kick the fuck out of a song, that song really does feel like it’s had the fuck kicked out of it, You Can’t Fake It being a prime example as it scrambles up that mountain to the peak, then finds another peak beyond that, before gliding along nicely. All good stuff, but no time to rest as Grey To Gold is waiting in the wings to leap out, grab the baton and run like the wind, more like a thunderstorm… etc etc…
Yeah it’s a pretty decent album, even Pink Floydy at times (final third of Post Script), which’ll do for me.
May 28, 2013 @ 4:36 pm
Zebedy epitomizes everything that is average and dull about music in North Wales and Chester. Play it safe? Just play it Zebedy and stay in the little pond and have a good clusterwank over something that would be laughed at everywhere else in the country.
May 28, 2013 @ 4:53 pm
Yeah, I can see your point… but please tell me what’s not safe, who should North Wales bands aspire too? Give us some constructive pointers rather than pull it down?
May 30, 2013 @ 2:31 pm
Steve ‘Skip’ Dwight posted this on Facebook…
Sadly, the comment after the review isn’t constructive at all. No matter which North Wales band you are in I’m sure you could learn something, none of us claim to be perfect, but I admire the effort Zebedy put in on the live circuit and the professional recordings they release. Zebedy also write extremely good songs, not to everybody’s taste but hey, it’s all subjective. There are so many exciting bands in the North Wales area at present and I really hope these bands get out and play all over the UK (and further afield) to prove that our music doesn’t get laughed at in other areas…..and to do this we all need to support each other, regardless of genre, haircut, choice of clothes etc! Kudos to Neil Crud for providing a great platform for North Wales music that unites us all.
May 30, 2013 @ 8:45 pm
If I recall correctly I saw a facebook post from Adam Walton lamenting lack of attendance to a show he put on and, again if I remember correctly, he couldn’t understand why people didn’t go to shows.
Well, here’s your answer. With North Wales promoting and supporting bands for the simple reason that they exist, then we do nothing but promote stagnation. There are a multitude of reasons behind this occurrence; lack of decent venues, lack of touring bands coming to our areas, nepotism and so forth. Of course this happens in any locale, but I think young/alternative/fresh talent is lacking because of lack of incoming inspiration. We have to constantly look outwards, to other cities, to get it. There’s nothing here that scares musicians into stepping up. That’s just a simple fact. However, fear is a double edged sword and can paralyse somebody (in this instance) into not wanting to look outwards, and in that instance – a powerhouse band coming into North Wales will surely inspire and galvanize those into action.
Would YOU want to go a show where you knew there was going to be nothing really special? I wouldn’t. I won’t. I’m fucking fussy and proudly so. I want to be SCARED. I want to be INSPIRED. I have no interest in supporting a scene, I have every interest in supporting a band that sends shivers down my spine.
Now, regarding this particular post. I fucking hate Zebedy. Any band who thinks an hour long set, finishing off with a murder of RATM ‘Killing in the Name of’ while in the role of ‘support’ band is acceptable and need to re-asses their ego, then promptly dump it in the sewer. Killer endings to sets with big riffs? HAH! Seriously, look outside your comfort zone lads. I agree with the troll; stop hiding in North Wales, go out and fucking TOUR and get the shit scared out of you and stop lording it with banality. I mean christ, didn’t they learn their lesson after Lantern died?
(Yeah, I remember Lantern. God save me.)
In fact the last north wales band to make me ‘OH FUCK, STEP THE FUCK UP’, was .. shit .. fuck erm. Nine broken lives? I can’t recall the name to save my life, but it had Steve Brute and James Tinman Anton in it. I fucking loved that band, so good live.
May 30, 2013 @ 8:47 pm
I don’t really know Zebedy, don’t know what they stand for and don’t know if they have left North Wales…I actually just wanted to go off topic a tad….
i just wondered Danny why don’t you support the scene? I like seeing young bands getting up there thinking “fuck this i’ll log off facebook for the evening leave the house and get up in front of people and express myself and pour my heart out….might even play that song I wrote last week…people might laugh though but i’ll do it anyway” maybe that is just the musician in me i don’t know. Granted you are gonna get an Ego for time to time as you’ve purceived Zebedy to be (again…don’t know them…) And you do get pleasantly suprised by bands now and again. Scenes need supporting so more people pick up guitars form bands and it gives the kids something do to. I just miss the days of the dudley arms
May 30, 2013 @ 8:52 pm
Trolls like that have existed on link2wales since before the word “troll” was in widespread use. Probably bitter that their Nirvana covers band never took off. Zebedy are a very good band and whether you like their music or not, that can’t be denied.
May 30, 2013 @ 11:07 pm
My point – Danny – was about Chester. And it regarded music people of the highest calibre.
For whatever reason, *everything* (music-related) is more difficult up here. But that does mean that the rewards can be greater (more original music / fewer hipster bastards / little complacency).
Off topic, sorry.
May 31, 2013 @ 4:46 pm
I had an amazing set of replies to all this, but the guitarist of Zebedy just proved my point in spades. Long live the King.