Emotions are a blessing and a curse of humankind. More often than not they hit harder than one would like and look like a layered mess of several balls of yarn. A fearless artist I’m about to introduce has taken this aforementioned mess and turned them into their debut album speaking about all those emotions that make us human in all their beautiful and damned glory.
The artist is called Zorastead, a band formed by three people who found each other in one magical foggy night in Italy. As some of you might know already, the trio has released their debut single “True Words” not too long ago, allowing listeners to get the first taste of the band’s immersive and emotionally rich world of music. That beautiful single also announced one more big thing, and that’s why we are here today. It’s their debut album!
“Inner Rails“, that’s the album’s name, is home to 8 tracks with titles that already look promising and give a hint where each song might be going to. It’s also a celebration for the band members themselves – since Zorastead was formed shortly before the pandemic happened, this album marks their success at overcoming the limitations of recording at home and working together physically separately. The effects of the pandemic have also seeped into their sound, giving a sense of underlying gloomy emotions. And speaking of emotions, there’s a lot in both the lyrics as well as the melodies in every song.
The journey starts with “Bothering Ties”, immediately striking with the singer’s powerful voice in front of a near-theatrical backdrop. The song quickly picks up a steady speed and has futuristic-sounding synths adding spark. All that reminds me of the 5th Element, particularly the opera singer scene. “Thorns for Breakfast” is a departure from that and into soft soulful guitar-driven story about the struggles of facing everyday life. Gentle emotive female vocals singing about the story of her heart switch turns with mellow fiddle melodies and later electric guitar riffs.
“I Can Tell You” sees the return of the powerful indestructible voice standing tall. The ecstatic guitar riff echoing through the overall dreamy “Bliss in a Pill” sings heartache and disappointment thorough a lens that I would say is uniquely Zorastead. The next song hits with a much stronger note, the rock side of the band presented in that wonderful groovy way under the name “Violence Skills” loaded by electric guitar riffs that tease with goosebumps. That is followed by a shaky and emotion-drenched “Methodic Poisoning”, a truly dark song written about the burnout syndrome healthcare workers face. The gloomy and wide atmosphere of this song feels like an emotional wasteland – so silent that everything echoes.
A glimmer of hope in melodies which feel like a fresh breath is followed in “Call Me By Name”, a song driven by the sheer force of emotions interwoven. The journey ends with the single – love underlined, inspected and experienced in an introspective way put into heartfelt lyrics of “True Words”. A beautiful positive note to end the emotionally heavy album, offering a larger-than-life soundscape before fading gently into the soft silence.
Zorastead has taken some of the most difficult and uncomfortable human emotions and dissected them with no fear, turning them into songs that offer such a rich palette of sounds. The soaring feelings of optimism interlaced with pensive or downright dark tones, shimmering overtones of love hand-in-hand with remorse, fear and disappointment and much more have been captured in an album that I feel should not be missed at any cost!
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify. You can also check out their linktr.ee. It also helps to stream and share their music; you can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Debut Bands (Off The Radar), Alterindie State Of Mind, 12 New Songs This Week, and Female Rising Stars.
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator