Zeni Geva Albums (9)
What The Critics Say
Zeni Geva had been together for nearly 14 years and 11 albums prior to this one, but the band's angular, psychedelic noise rock/metal hybrid sounds just as ferocious as ever here. Tight, focused, and apparently pretty pissed off, they tear through the album's eight tracks with the energy of bandmembers half their age. At the same time, though, Zeni Geva understands something many younger bands don't -- which is dynamics: When shifting out of the quieter sections and into full-attack mode on tracks such as "Blastsphere" and "Tyrannycide," Zeni Geva sounds like just about the heaviest band on the planet. Leader K.K. Null keeps his vocals to a strategic minimum, leaving the emphasis on the band's jagged prog/math rock rhythms, the dissonant dual guitar riffs and textures, and Masataka Fujika's massive drumming, which benefits from a patented Steve Albini recording job. Most of this disc is not what you'd call catchy; in fact, a lot of it is downright ugly. But then again, this is Zeni Geva -- what else would you expect? This band has become known for playing ugly, dense, and uncompromising rock & roll, and 10,000 Light Years does not disappoint. ~ William York, All Music Guide
'Freedom Bondage'
Release Date 8/29/1995
Tracks 9
Label Alternative Tentacles
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What The Critics Say
Like one of Akira Kurosawa's acclaimed Samurai epics cross-pollinated with the type of bludgeoning metal championed by Slayer, Freedom Bondage charges stoically, stolidly, furiously, but in firm control, bolstered by the tremendous engineering work of Steve Albini. Guitarist KK Null -- known also for his experimental, sometimes ambient, sometimes painful-beyond-listenability soundscapes -- plays with a decided flair for both overdriven death metal and more painful, art rock-inspired single note runs, quite similar to Today Is the Day's Steve Austin. However, Null's most impressive and overwhelming trait is his vocals: He sings the way Toshiro Mifune screams and grunts in Kurosawa's films. It's quite daunting and powerful to listen to. In fact, Freedom Bondage is Zeni Geva's most potent and consistent work, a surgically precise blend of Japanese avant-noisescapes, death metal, art rock, and industrial sensibilities, all harnessed brilliantly, with tremendous attention -- as usual -- to drum tone and breadth, by Albini. ~ Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide
'Trance Europe Express'
Release Date 8/1/1995
Tracks 9
Label Nux Organization
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What The Critics Say
Recorded live in clubs and on the radio during the band's first European tour, Trance Europe Express captures Zeni Geva with equal intensity in a context other than the studio. Released in 1995 on KK Null's own Nux imprint, this disc comprises tracks from all of the band's primary releases to that date. More a document of a particular tour than a groundbreaking -- or at least eardrum-shattering -- new recording, Trance Europe Express traces the arc of a tour sonically, highlighting the best tracks from certain shows, and includes a complete tour itinerary in the liner notes. Tracks one through six were recorded at VRPO Audio-1 Studio in Hilversum, Holland; tracks seven and eight were taken from the board at Democrazy in Gent, Belgium; and track nine was recorded live in Groningen, Holland, at Vera. Though not as punishing as the various studio albums, nor as avant, painful, or ambient as Null's solo work -- recall that he had been working with noise merchant Merzbow as far back as 1983 -- Trance Europe Express is an important document for Zeni Geva initiates and aficionados. ~ Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Since his days in Big Black, Steve Albini exemplified the big sound possible from studio recordings of over-the-top industrial guitar bands. Producing Zeni Geva in the studio on Nai-Ha, he puts his skills to deadly effect. Essentially lyrical passages and dynamic changes in long, instrumental portions make this disc perhaps the most accessible of the Nipp Guitar Heavy series. On Nai-Ha, guitarist Tabata (ex-Boredoms) joins K.K. Null's group for one of the finest examples of ultra-heavy Japanese guitar rock and second only to Z-Rock Hawaii as the best disc in the Nipp Guitar Heavy series. ~ Tom Schulte, All Music Guide
'Maximum Money Monsters'
Release Date 5/26/1994
Tracks 8
Label Pathological
See Album Tracklist and Review
'All Right, You Little Bastards!'
Release Date 1/1/1993
Tracks 12
Label Nipp Guitar
See Album Tracklist and Review
'Desire for Agony'
Release Date 1/1/1993
Tracks 9
Label Alternative Tentacles
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What The Critics Say
Though not quite the equal of 1995's Freedom Bondage, the Albini-helmed Desire for Agony is nonetheless an exercise in guitar brutality and avant-extreme noise execution. However, it is not as directional in its attack; that is to say, Desire for Agony is a bit more oblique, jazzy even, at least in notational structure. Either way, there is no suppressing or sublimating KK Null's devastating guitar work -- not to mention his Samurai war vocals. Having developed his morbid fascination many years before, what with early album titles like Autofuck, How to Kill, and Skullfuck Live, Null certainly keeps the spirit -- Mishima-like -- alive with tracks like the titular "Desire for Agony" and "Autopsy Love," the latter of which steamrolls like Motorhead meets King Crimson. Even if not the band's finest hour in the sun, Desire for Agony, as with any Zeni Geva release, is about as intense as humanly possible. ~ Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide
'Live in Amerika'
Release Date 1/1/1992
Tracks 16
Label Nux Organization
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What The Critics Say
Live in Amerika is a document of Zeni Geva's raging August 1992 tour -- most of which consists of a show in Los Angeles. Recorded onto DAT, the quality is solid though the depth and echoes make Zeni Geva sound more like arena-rockers and less like the tight noise trio they were. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
