'Zoo' is a whole new Ceremony. It's a pretty drastic switch from their previous, more violent tendencies, but as they threatened last year with their Urban Waste cover, "I'm not into punk rock, I'm not into hardcore, don't you try and label me...". It might not be a lyric that singer Ross Farrar penned himself, but keep that statement in mind when listening to 'Zoo'; it applies more than you know.
In the absence of the Californian hardcore of previous records, Seattle-style grunge seems to dominate a good chunk of this record, with hefty, prominent bass droning and rolling through its core.
"my nose bleeds like my father's did/ I'll never be pure/ I'll always be loved" Songs such as 'Nosebleed' have Frank Black's pitch-black vigour coursing through them, giving an irresistible new life and personality to the band. It seems their '6 Cover Songs EP' was foreshadowing much more than we knew at the time.
Opener 'Hysteria' is the moment Ceremony traded "gang vocals" for sing-a-longs, and probably the moment when old Ceremony fans decided if they were sticking around or disowning them. Not that the song is disown-worthy, it's actually a fantastic 'made for shows' hit, but you know how fans can be with change, and this is one of those moments that many bands have when the fans just won't know how to react at first.
The surprising thing I found with 'Zoo' was that after several spins, I wanted to hear more of their slower, melodic songs. They simply overshadow the spunkier punk songs like 'Community Service' and 'Ordinary People', which you'll feel like you've already heard an infinite amount of times before.
'Video' and 'Hotel' are the songs you never thought you'd hear from Ceremony, but the ones that strike with the biggest impact. 'Hotel' has an infectious ghostly rattle, and a chorus that lingers uncomfortably, especially if you're alone; "Hotel is home for no one to stay". Closer 'Video' brings an almost gothic surf vibe, gently thudding to a frothy end as an album highlight.
I'm a big fan of "Older" Ceremony, so I blindly disregarded Zoo on the first listen and even struggled to get past the half way mark initially. It might not be a popular opinion, but I now favour songs like 'Nosebleed' and 'Video' and would say they're some of my favourite Ceremony moments. A big part of this opinion is realising Ross Farrar's vocals were always meant to groan and grumble over distortion, as much as they were to bark over hardcore.
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