Customer Reviews

Monster Zero

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

fantastic production value, this album reveals voyager one discovering a sound that exists somewhere between the hypnotic, drugged out melodic bliss of verve's 'a storm in heaven' and the unpredictable sonic experimentation of mogwai's 'rockaction' with enough blips, beeps and samples to keep radiohead fans interested. comparisons to early 90's shoegazer bands (ride, spiritualized, my bloody valentine, slowdive, verve) are inevitable and well-earned, but voyager one's unique, modern contribution to the genre is unmistakable. production and mixing are perfect: vocals and guitar feedback are balanced with a myriad of other beautifully distorted and twisted sounds into an entrancing blend of multicolored noise while the rhythm section creates a poweful undercurrent that propels the music forward (and keeps your head bobbing) rather than aimlessly meandering or drifting through the rather dense soundscapes. these are actually songs.

certainly not an album for everyone (but then again, shoegazers never were) but fans of the genre won't be disappointed. 'wires' is perfect - think of 'the only one i know' by the charlatans uk colliding with 'star sail' by verve and you've got a starting point...

sounds great at night. not to be missed by fans of 'shoegazing' or space rock, and a good bet for adventurous fans of daring modern bands like radiohead, interpol, and flaming lips.

It's a tempting pastime to link current bands to ones past, and you wouldn't necessarily be wrong finding a connection between V1 and a host of 80s bands that processed their guitars.

But doing so does V1 a disservice. The songs have nothing in common with 80s predecessors other than the band's namesake was a craft once used by the United States, and that the United States was a county in the 80s. The songs shimmer with guitar texture, the beats - sometimes sparse and barely there, sometimes dense - are skewered and augmented by deft synth arrangements, and the bass lines leap up and down the fretboard. Call in star-gazing astral rocket-launch trip hop space rock.

'Wires' is the true opener here, and what an opener. Walls of guitar may recall My Bloddy Valentine, but the propulsion offered by the rhythm section makes it seems as if the guits are hanging on for dear life. As much as you can say this is shoegazer (a term the band has admitted they find shallow and unsuitable) it sounds like more muscular than what that term implies.

As if to prove that they have more than one trick up their sleeve, V1 slow things down to a crawl on 'Gun,' in which a descending guitar line is laid on top of a dense wall of atmospheric guitar. A cello on 'Snow Angel Summer' gives the end of the song a haunting feel, almost flying in the face of the barely-tethered feel in the beginning. As layers are added the song somehow gains momentum (even though the tempo doesn't change). In the end only the cello, the last instrument to emerge, is left standing. The title track is similar something Primal Scream might have put on their Exterminator album if only they had thought of it first.

The cover of Echo and the Bunnymen's 'Bedbugs and Ballyhoo' bests the original version in terms of slithering beats and guitar heft, and it could be the best song on the album. 'Praise the Lowered' and 'Tokyoidaho,' which close the album at a gentle pace, score points on my board for simply emerging as two great drone/ambient pieces.

Voyager One - with Monster Zero's textured guitar, varied beats and sonic experimentation - quietly made a gem of an album. It's time to find out why.

I found out about this band while watching the Suicide Girls:" First Tour" Documentray on HBO one night. As a former trance DJ, I was blown away by much of the music in the documentary but was especially entranced by one of the girls dancing to "Gun" in a very seductive way. I immediately had to find out who they were. Since, I have already bought all of their albums and humbly await their next arrival back in NYC. "Gun" is now my permanent opening song to my MySpace page...lol.

I "discovered" Voyager One only a few months ago when I was looking into other shoegazer styled bands, given my affinity for My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Catherine Wheel and The Verve (I understand the members of V1 have indicated that they're not crazy about that label). After sampling some songs over the internet, I ordered all three of the V1's albums, and basically listened to them every night for the next week. The best of the three is the second one, namely "Monster Zero," which contains what, in my opinion, three of V1's very best songs: the intense driving "Wires" and "Gun," and the more psychedelic leaning "Three Pair." Plus there's a fine cover of Echo and the Bunnymen's "Bedbugs and Ballyhoo" (even better than the cover of the Beatle's "Daytripper," on their previous album), but the entire album is compelling and complex. Compare "Snow Angel Summer," with the Verve's "Already There." Listen how the cleverly titled "Tokyoidaho" combines music of the Orient with Americana. Try to catch the disturbing spoken lyrics of "Out in the Marketplace," inspired, no doubt, by Radiohead.

An extraordinarily adventurous album, which I've now listened to repeatedly without tiring of it, I can't say enough about "Monster Zero." Voyager One deserves to be a widely known band, especially on the alternative/college circuit. But in a way, I kind of like the fact that they're a little known secret that I've discovered.

this album is great, but i dont feel like explaining how great it is so here's bottom line: you like anything with shoegaze swirls whether it be My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, or hell even The Cure then pick this album up, you wont be dissapointed.

I was tempted to by this CD and their other one because of the comparisons to Echo & the Bunnymen and the P. Furs. I don't see it. The songs drone on ... and on. Interpol is much better as a comparison to the above mentioned '80's bands. I don't want to relive the past but this group is boring.