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Progressive Rock CD Reviews

Zero Times Everything

Sound Of Music

Review by Gary Hill

This is the second disc from Zero Times Everything. Like the first one that I also reviewed at MSJ, this is exceptional adventurous. This time around, they have created a double CD set (the first disc labeled "Black Hole" and the second "White Hole"). It has a lot of music that is keyboard based and along the lines of Tangerine Dream. Still more, though, gets more rocking. At times Hawkwind is a valid reference point. There are a number of extensive epics here. This is all creative, artistic and unusual.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2021  Volume 5. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2021.

Track by Track Review
Black Hole
                      
You Are Here

Weird keyboard sounds create an unsettling and alien landscape as this track begins. The number continues strictly on keyboards, getting into some real Tangerine Dream or Synergy type zones.

Razorblade Keychain
Guitar brings this number into being with an almost metallic grind. The cut builds out from there, turning pounding as it represents a more full band approach. This twists and turns with a noisy kind of King Crimson turns industrial vibe to it. It drops to spacey keyboards as it moves toward mid-track. It fires back out into harder rocking zones further down the road, and really explodes into some powerhouse prog jamming.
The Same Flat Field
Here we get another keyboard based number. It's dramatic, powerful and also dynamic. Again, Tangerine Dream is a valid comparison.
Ice Report
Keyboards start this in freaky ways. There are spoken sound loops that come in over the top. Some seem related to the Titanic, at times referring to it by name.   The cut is another that makes me think of Tangerine Dream. Violin later in the track is a great touch.
Blisterine
I love the hard rocking riff that brings this into being. This thing is driving and hard rocking with a lot of psychedelia in the mix.
Milky Black Sun
Trippy, dark sounding keyboards create the core of this. It feels like soundtrack music. There are some vocals on this track. They are slightly distorted and rather distant. It definitely creates a space rock vibe. The cut grows into more rocking zones as it continue. I'm definitely reminded of Hawkwind a little. There are some lush layers of keyboards over the top at times, and the track gets rather chaotic and bizarre in a tasteful way. The track works through a number of changes as it continues, getting mellower at points.
Sound Tenement
There is definitely more psychedelia on display on this track. It's a keyboard dominated piece that has some rich textures and lush arrangements.
Tears In The Waterfall

Another mellower cut, this is guitar oriented. it's melodic and full of style and charm.      

Die Nacht Ist Leben
A pure epic, this is nearly twenty-minutes long. The opening section features a lush electronic concept. It turns pounding and dramatic from there. This gets noisy, crazed and so intense. There is some real chaos of the industrial variety here. It gets remade into something more tentative, but mellower and more melodic near the end for a procession of different spoken voices.
Coda
A mellower and quite pretty dreamscape is on display here.           
White Hole
                          
You Are Hearer
Echoey percussive sounds start this second disc and hold the first tune of it from the start.  It shifts toward more lush, keyboard based stuff.   
Third Uncle
A powered up rocker is on the menu here. This is a fast paced prog tune that really drives with style. The vocals are solid and catchy. The song is another that makes me think of Hawkwind to some degree.
Oculus
Another of epic proportions (almost 14-minutes), an odd chord starts this. It drops away from there and gradually reforms in a sparse, tentative way. The cut turns to some chaotic textures, feeling freeform and weird, but still somewhat understated, as it continues. It gets noisier, but no less weird as it works forward. It eventually turns more toward the melodic with an arrangement that is still freeform. .A harder rocking section emerges about two-thirds of the way through the song.    
Two Dead Stars Falling Into A Catastrophic Embrace
Piano and other keys bring this into being in a trippy kind of tentative arrangement that grows upward. At 14-minutes long, this is another epic. This eventually turns louder and more crazed. This gets dark and heavy later. It resolves to prettier, mellow music around the two-thirds mark. More Tangerine Dream like electronic sounds emerge later. 
Lux Aeterna
The longest cut of the set, this is a little more than 25-and-a-half minutes long. Trippy electronics start it off. A spoken voice comes over later as the music has turned toward melodic atmospherics. After the voice lists the top ways the human race might end (at least I think that's what the list is) some sounds like wind chimes take over. The arrangements turns more lush and powerful as it grows and it gets into waves of electronic keyboard sounds. Tangerine Dream is again a valid reference point. There is more spoken stuff further down the road. It turns harder rocking as it continues, getting noisy and rather crazed for a while. Then it drops back to mellower stuff, feeling even jazzy as more voice sound-bites are heard. Another burst of the heavy rocking sound emerges further down the road. Then it gets into some ambient weirdness before an edgy guitar rises upward. More trippy electronic sound takes over from there. Voices come in over the top of that. That sounds like something from a movie. As the cut continues to evolve there are some female vocals of the operatic type that come over the top. Weird effects and trippy guitar elements rise up further down the road to take it into psychedelic, space zones. It twists toward the melodic as it works to the closing portion of the piece. There is a short world music like section right at the end.
The Sound
Keyboard based elements with an almost chiming, droning texture are on display as this starts. More rock based sounds emerge as it continues with some intriguing guitar work. About the halfway mark a spoken vocal part emerges. The music glides with melodic drama. There is a more percussive section after that voice portion of the track.

 

 
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