EP REVIEW: SEWERSTAR – Zand
ZAND has had one of the most exciting years so far: they’ve been on the cover of Kerrang! magazine, they’ve played the main stage at Slam Dunk Festival, and they’ve just recently appeared at Reading & Leeds Festival. After a string of viral singles, the alt-pop star is ready to take on the world with their second EP SEWERSTAR. Comprising seven songs, the EP is one that old and new fans can enjoy. It’s a conceptual EP about human nature and how far people will go for what they desire in life. It’s set in a hellish underground sewer realm and each song tells a different character’s story, with each narrator claiming that they are the star, hence the unique title of the EP.
Uniqueness is why people can’t get enough of ZAND, and from this EP it’s easy to see why. The haunting whistles that open up Descent, a moody intro, are enough to make your stomach churn with anxiety as you enter this weird new world. Deliverance really gets things started as ZAND embraces their love of nu-metal with the heavy instruments whilst talking about the consequences of paranoia. They unleash some fantastic screams before everything descends into a crazy sped-up carousel-esque section that only slows down when the song ends.
Whether it is the tongue-in-cheek Religion or DTF, ZAND‘s ability to embrace the message of being yourself whilst also mixing up genres is brilliant. Take Battery Acid for example. It is a slow, quiet song that allows ZAND‘s vocals to really take centre stage. Unfortunately, that also brings up a problem with the EP. Whilst Battery Acid does have some backing vocals, the only instruments are an acoustic guitar and a violin, whereas the other songs seem to have all their eggs in one basket which can sometimes make it hard to keep track of all that is going on.
Thankfully, I Spit In Your Grave mostly restrains itself, allowing ZAND‘s vocals to take centre stage. However, on other songs, such as DTF – a fun song about self-love – the production overwhelms the vocals, making it hard to hear what ZAND is singing. It also doesn’t help that the vocals are distorted. This is prevalent in the opening few songs as well, which is a shame because ZAND has a fantastic voice. Furthermore, the pacing of the EP is all over the place, due to the fact that each song covers multiple different genres. Closer L.E.E.C.H.E.S. is a bass-heavy song that wouldn’t sound out of place in a club night. It is one of the rare times that the production does not make the vocals sound indistinguishable from the instruments, and the beat drop is utterly hypnotic.
Whilst it is great that ZAND is not confining themself to a particular genre, the first three songs can sound slightly overwhelming because there is no break from the loud electronic and metal instruments. Thankfully, the EP does manage to rectify this during the second half, by having an acoustic song and a dance song to break things up a bit. However, these are still early days for ZAND, so there is still time to improve. On the other hand, as this EP is supposed to reflect a strange world, then maybe it is supposed to be slightly chaotic. If that is the case, then it is a job very well done.
Overall, SEWERSTAR is a fun and unique EP. Whilst it doesn’t always hit the right notes, there is no denying that ZAND is one of the most creative voices in the music scene right now. The production does unfortunately let the EP down a lot in the first half; however, it manages to rein it in during the second half, allowing ZAND to show off their talent. That second half also showcases some newer sounds that are incredibly exciting, especially the gorgeous acoustic song Battery Acid. These are still early days for ZAND, but there is a lot to look forward to.
Rating: 7/10
SEWERSTAR is set for release on September 7th via self-release.
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