Souls at Zero
(Energy)
by Paul Lee
Focus, sharpness, and the unstoppability of a juggernaut. This is what Souls At Zero have in their lives and music. Their sound is a wild and bloodied vein of metallic/thrash music (with plenty of hardcore influence to feed the fire). Their moniker may be unfamiliar to you, but don’t mistake SAZ as fresh fellas out of thrash 101 class. They’re veterans of the metalized music world and major label conflicts and have paid their dues (with definite scars obtained).
Well, who the hell are this quartet of fine, driven, and crazed people you may ask? Their previous incarnation was a band out of Maryland/D.C. area called Wrathchild (you can add an “American” to that name so as not to confuse with that song of Hellraiser product English band). Wrathchild was a pretty basic metal band that sang of Hellraiser (the flick), spies and being “Surrounded By Idiots,” the usual metal plate du jour. Now, after being screwed over and deserted by Atlantic Records and the general collapse of Wrathchild, Souls At Zero emerged with the same line-up and a blistering sound.
Think of it this way, if Wrathchild could knock-over a house with their tunes, Souls At Zero could level a building. Their lyrical content has to do with everyday topics (the more enraging and darker ones) and those nasty little emotions that make us want to mosh it up and release our pent-up energy and ANGER!!! Just take a spin in a car with the songs like “Frustration,” “Grey World,” and “Checkin Out,” and when you jam on the accelerator, you’ll know what I mean. They may not be out to rewrite the sacred books of metallic style, but SAZ are blasting forth the music that they were made to create.
Their musical influences come the bands like Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, and Circle Jerks to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and even Pink Floyd. As Wrathchild, they tried to touch upon many styles that ended up hurting them and getting in the way of a solid focus. They had one instrumental song, “Prego,” from 3-D that had classical, jazz, rock, and reggae. They had the right idea in trying to be different from the rest of the metal pack, but it didn’t work, and their success at being on a major label took a turn for the worst.
To their credit, Souls At Zero arose from the ashes of having been dropped by their former label, Atlantic Records. Drummer Shannon told me that typically, bands in this predicament don’t survive to be rescued by another label. Not so for these four tenacious rockers. They worked hard and were snagged by Energy Records out of the festering Apple (NYC). As diehard fans of Clive Barker, the moniker Souls At Zero came to the surface from The Great and Secret Show. And thus was reborn the band that is set to take the thrashing dimension by viscera and gray matter.
When SAZ came to Boston in September, they tore up the stage at Local 186. Their energies create a musical tsunami that the crowd couldn’t hide from (even those jaded shmucks). They just returned this November with Sacred Reich and Crowbar to support marijuana legalization with High Times and NORML. The audience reaction was much more involved, and a number of SAZ fans flailed around wildly like spastic whirling dervishes.
Not a single Wrathchild song appeared in the set as a testament to their rebirth. They were on stage a mere hour or more, but they demonstrated that these Souls can bring about that structured musical havoc that is thrashcore (or whatever) and do it with talent. They even covered a reggae song that said something like “I don’t do cocaine but I smoke sensimilla.” A pace shifter to say the least, even though no one was a tokin’ anything.
Make sure to take note of Souls At Zero. They’ve already created two videos, but have as yet to be shown on the musical corporate TV megalith, MTV. Shannon assured me that they will land there soon enough. He also told me that they had a good time at The Foundations Forum in California and are enjoying tearing up the stages across the country. If you didn’t catch them around this time, do yourself a favor and see SAZ next time. These guys have seen the dark light of the thrash beacon and are following their true destiny.
