Zolle – Zolle

The Buona Outweighs the Cattiva

Zolle is a name that is most likely unfamiliar, being that their debut album has dropped very recently. Despite this, the duo from Bruzzelle, Italy has already gathered a solid following and a ton of credibility. Zolle’s work is best described as catchy, enjoyable, and captivating, evident by their sludge-y doom rock sound. As such, their gradual growth in popularity is rightfully warranted, as they have done a considerably great job on their first self titled debut.

There are several aspects to this album that make for a memorable and worthwhile listen. To start, the riffs are extremely catchy and monumental. Throughout the songs, a deep hard rock sound dominates every track, played along to mid tempo energetic drums with a ton of attitude. The guitar riffs are a vibrant combination of single notes and dynamic power chords. While the drums don’t make use of a ton of drum fills, they are fairly well-played and give the music a minimalistic rock sound. One of the strongest tracks, “Weetellah,” makes for great fast-paced moshing material that demands attention. Another amazing song is the closing one, entitled “Moongitruce.” It begins with the same characteristics as the ones heard previously, but ends with a rich ritualistic atmosphere that comes off as pleasingly dissonant. Another highlight is a brief moment near the end of “Trynchatowak” that makes use of uncanny ceremonial sounding instrumentation, not commonly heard in metal.

However, the album also has some weak aspects. One of the biggest is the complete lack of vocals; the entire thing is instrumental. This may not be problematic for other genres, however it just seems to deprive the songs here of a very important aspect; it makes the album sound incomplete. Additionally, there is not much variation in the songs, except for the aforementioned strange elements– everything sounds fairly similar and predictable.

Overall, Zolle has created something worthwhile with this self-titled debut. It’s safe to say that great things will come into their discography in the future. But for now, this album is worth a chance and a listen, since the positive aspects greatly outnumber the negative ones.