Album Review: Pharaoh Overlord - Zero

Neu! The Pharaoh of Meadow Eyes presents its latest Circle

There are so many ways in which music can be crazy. Some music is extremely technical or complicated in terms of song structures, some music is just crazy in the sense of being incredibly energetic and some music is mind bending like one is listening to acid in aural form. There is another form of crazy music that kind of gets overlooked nowadays because so much has been done already and that is the willingness to go wild with experimentation. You might say “You mean stuff like Zeal & Ardor, Jute Gyte or Liturgy?” and I say “Nay, they might be experimental but they are not insane, Pharaoh Overlord's Zero however is insane”.

There is a very simple reason why Zero is insane, on this album we have some classic Neu! styled kraut meets space rock but Antti Boman of Demilich does all of the vocals. When I first heard about Zero I expected Antti to actually sing normally but the only vocals you will hear on Zero are his infamous burps. At first it seems like a joke. Surely no sane person into music would want to have such vocals over something that sounds like Neu! ? Well even during my first listen I realized that they actually pull off this crazy idea very successfully. While I guess this is also a testament to how Antti is at his job but I think they implemented his vocals very well from a production and mixing stand point, they've softened up how he sounds so it fits in very well with the rest of the music. I also think Antti adopted a slightly different approach to his style for Zero. He comes over a bit as an alien crooner and got this spoken word feel to it as well.

Enough talking about the vocals as there is so much else going on. The rest of the music like I said earlier is mostly based on the Neu! side of kraut rock. Lots of repetitive drum patterns and song structures that slowly change and morph. The kraut rock factor gets boosted by the legendary Hans Joachim Irmler of Faust fame. I assume that he plays most of the synths we hear on this record. The synths alternate between playing more melodically and going for a more spacey approach. The guitars are somewhat more space rock than kraut rock based and there are some heavier parts that reference metal from a space rock perspective. Instrumentally speaking this is one of the finest displays in the wider psychedelic rock world I've heard in the last couple years. They might superficially play something well established but yet clearly very succesfully made it their own.

Who would have thought that an album which features kraut rock meets Antti Boman would not only turn out well but even end up being one of the very best records of 2018. It makes me wonder if they made Jochim listen to Nespithe and if he realized that in its own way it is just as out there as Faust was back in the day. Maybe we will see a Faust / Demilich collaboration in the future? After hearing this excellent album I definitely would like to hear it. Meanwhile I'm sure Pharaoh Overlord as well as that other band Circle will continue to create music of a very high level.   

Final score: 94/100

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