REVIEW ON 'GOTHRONIC.COM' (Netherlands)

ZIPPO - The Road To Knowledge

8/10

“Yet another stoner rock band”. Those were my thoughts when first coming across Zippo. Their second album “The Road to Knowledge” is, indeed, stoner rock. An entire album based around the book “The Teachings of Don Juan.” Now, (not judging the book but its cover here) this title alone doesn’t sound like something I’d personally run to the library for. Also, I have to admit, with a horrendous band name like Zippo my expectations weren’t really all that high anyway. It starts out as the standard stoner rock formula I was expecting. Nothing out of the ordinary. Now, of course, there’s nothing wrong with that but the constant stream of bands playing the Kyuss card has become a little mundane, a little stale to me and it never seems to end. Then you notice all the other subtleties tied into the music. It’s like the band sat down with both Tool (listen to those progressive melody lines going on in “The Road To Knowledge” or “Ask Yourself a Question” for instance) and modern, more abrasive stoner groups like Down (see tracks like “El Enyerbado”). Combining these sounds Zippo starts lighting up the psychedelica and throws the end result through a blender labeled “90’s stoner rock”. What we get is an excellent sound that is in fact, refreshing. See for instance all the lovely musical nuances, contrasts and transitioning in tracks like “Chihuahua Valley” and “Mitote”. Something I wasn’t at all expecting. Do take note though, Zippo is not a band that hides their influences or even tries to. Plenty of guitar rhythms get lifted from the Isis camp as well for instance and we even get a western styled acoustic song that could’ve been included on any Tarantino flick. Zippo comes across as a band that is unoriginal, yet still manages to bring a breath of fresh air to the music field. A rarity in itself, especially within these now so cluttered genre walls. Recommended.

David
www.gothronic.com