Zombi : "Direct Inject"

The Kraut Rockers 7th album finds them drifting into a more prog direction. The synths to the title track that opens the album sounds like they might bust into "Tom Sawyer" at any moment. "So Mote it Be" finds the drums laying down the groove to keep things moving in a manner that never allows the electronic ambiance to the drone. The instrumental nature of what they do sometimes creates a uniformity of mood, so the songs run together unless I am paying attention to the computer screen. The only thing that helps to break this up is the moments where they are more intentional rather than allowing themselves to sail off in their own ambiance. 

This album needs more moments where they do things like bring a sax in to help break the sonic colors up and not rely on synths as much. When they default into a more kraut rock mode and just let analog synth pads ring out, things are not as interesting, no matter how hard the drummer tries to compensate for it. They are good about layering sounds in a cinematic manner and would be great at composing soundtracks, so I am not sure why that is not more of a thing for these guys. There are things like bass lines that need to stand out to break the dynamics up. They are effective at doing this with "Post Atomic Horror" which gives off a vibe that reminds me of King Crimson's "Red" album. Though the syncopation leans in a more Zeppelin vibe. 

They fall back on a wave of synths with "Insurmountable Odds" It takes them time to get ramped up into this six-minute song. They linger on the synths a bit too long. Then it is once again up to the drummer to break this arrangement up. The cosmic ambiance is effective at creating a mood, but as an instrumental it needs a little more to really keep my attention. It feels like the drummer is this album's star player, who really digs in to make these songs work. The last track is really just more of an outro, as the song does not gain more momentum. I will give this album an 8.5, it's good at what it does, what it does as an instrumental album, is just that rather than hooking me in, but they captured an excellent atmosphere here for what this is. Being released on Relapse Records. 

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