Zebrahead-Phoenix

Icon MES
2008


Bringing many styles to the table can be fantastic providing of course that you know how to use the different sounds and can provide some time of balance. If someone had told me that a band could put together an album that includes elements of pop/punk/hard rock/rap and have it be riveting and exciting then I would have told them that they needed to come in out of the sun because it was effecting their brain. However, Zebrahead manage to encompass all of those sounds and shoot them into a frantic blend that stirs them all up and shoots out all the best parts for us to rapidly absorb. The music and vocals just bounce about relying on equal parts of strong melodies and pure energy. Zebrahead walk the balance beam between heavy and catchy and manage to stand up straight the whole way as they deliver both sounds in equal and effective amounts. Now I must admit that oftentimes a powerpop style makes me cringe because some bands who follow that style are really just watering down punk rock. Zebrahead on the other hand bring the best aspects of powerpop because slap down the smooth hooks and instantly likable choruses. That might even be enough, but they are obviously not satisfied with just one approach so we get some edgy hard rock and some rap vocals that manage to be genuine enough. There's a moment or two where they get a little repetitious, but they are near brilliant for about 95% of the album. Far better and more diverse than I was expecting as they just managed to offer up lots of ideas and then weave them together to make the whole even stronger than the parts.