Them Moose Rush – Zepaxia
Release Date: 2nd February 2024
Label: Dostava Zvuka/Dirty Old Label
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Rock, Progressive Hardcore, Math Rock, Noise Rock, Alternative Rock.
FFO: The Mars Volta, King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, Led Zeppelin.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Zepaxia is a word that has virtually no other translation or meaning in English other than to direct Google searchers to Them Moose Rush’s album. While it sounds like a name-brand medication to combat erectile dysfunction, it stimulates the erectile tissues in alternative ways. Namely, a thick, chunky prog album that is chock-full of 16 tracks of entertaining goodness and vocal rage a la Mars Volta or At The Drive In, minus the Latin musical overtones in most places. The album is set to be released on Dostava Zvuka/Dirty Old Label on February 2nd.
The Croatian trio has dumped 16 tracks of psychedelic, funky, stoner-y prog music into Zepaxia, cramming a huge swathe of material and influences that end up being a seriously-good album for fans of classic rock as well as modern pop-prog. There are dozens of moments where I think I can hear the influences of bands like The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In, and Zech Marquise, all coming from the same circles of punky-prog. The fans of those bands will absolutely flip for Them Moose Rush, at least in my opinion.
The vocal delivery is what most-sounds like the Mars Volta influence in this case. The vocals are on the higher side, definitely borrowing from the same vocal toybox as Led Zeppelin, Silversun Pickups, Coheed and Cambria, etc. That style of vocal input is perfectly-balanced in the recording, however, lending itself to an overall chunky-and-smooth goodness that doesn’t get boring, although it might seem like it would. Other reviewers have described the style as “quirky” or “whimsical”. I think that it’s not just a token technique, but a rock-solid basis for the “voice” (no pun intended) of the album.
I had a wild time listening to the album, as there were plenty of moments where the listener can get their head banging over some grooves that jump between downtempo funk/psych hooks and speedy shoegaz-ey walls of sound. There are plenty of overdriven bass hits and wild octave effects on the guitars peppered throughout the album. I think that the terms “quirky” or “waggish” are fun to describe the album, but they don’t necessarily do the album justice. I think that there is enough here for Zepaxia to stand up on its own, not just to be a “next-wave Mars Volta”.
How does this work for metal fans, though? I think that’s a fair question. There is a rainbow of various influences from punk, southern rock, stoner rock, psychedelic rock, and noise metal, something that ought to appeal to fans’ interest in the blending of intense genres. Mostly, though, I think that there is proto-metal that lives between the lines of everything on the whole album, especially in the noise metal elements, something which has its roots in the types of intensity and waywardness that makes us love the wild type of shit that we do. Plus, the tracks are short, giving them some additional heavy elements in their brevity and eagerness that resonates with the “stuff” inside our sick little hearts that makes us love metal.
Overall, I think Them Moose Rush is really onto something that mixes and mashes up genres with all types of fun which will appeal to metal fans by its quality and its guilty-pleasure pop goodness; and Zepaxia is 100% a diverse-sounding pop-prog album that I think I’d buy on vinyl and spin while getting stuff done, as it tended to put me in a good mood.
(4 / 5)
