Washington’s Avant-Garde Post-Punk project Zabus could easily be classified by an untrained ear as Punk.
It isn’t.
It definitely isn’t happy Punk. It’s chaotic, bleak and beautiful, in a way that makes each track stand out in their own way.
While it’s ultimately not for everyone, it’s the type of experimental progressive rock that should be celebrated for its execution of ideas and consistency through 10 extremely solid tracks.
The band, consisting of Jeremy Moore (voice, guitars, six-string bass, strings/synthesis), B.B. Kille (guitars) and Johnny Wielding (drums, four-string bass) is unique in the fact that there isn’t a track less than four-minutes and there isn’t an over-reliance on guitars and hooks, typical punk or rock standards.
Of all the tracks, “Golden Rot” may be the most “pop culture” friendly as Moore and company emit an almost Doors feel in a track that has the most infectious beat and hook of any other track on the album. However, the other nine tracks should be celebrated for their uniqueness and musicianship.
Because ultimately, how many “punk” bands have four and six-string bass? How many have such a brooding lead singer as Moore?
For these reasons, this is an album for any real appreciator of music to dive into. Fair warning though, you may not make it out the same.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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