Zero Days Is a Straightforward, In-Your-Face, Metal Album with an Attitude Only Prong Could Bring to the Table
Prong are back at it again with Zero Days, merely a year and some change after their 2016 release No Absolutes. Generally, a turnaround time that quick is a major cause for concern among a fan base, but that shouldn’t be the case here. Prong are on a roll creatively and are still feeding off a fire they lit under their own rear-ends years ago. The band has always served as a midpoint between several types of hard rock/metal, not fitting into any one category but rather encompassing several at once.
The three-piece attack begins with “However It May End.” The song features the familiarity of Tommy Victor’s simple but powerful guitar riffs coupled with his unique vocal style, which displays a type of attitude that only a New Yorker such as he could put into words effectively. The track has a quick buildup and wastes no time bringing Art Cruz into the fold, as the tempo speeds up around the 20-second mark and does not let him relent for the rest of the 13-song album.
The delivery of the material is stellar throughout the LP’s entirety, making excellent use of Prong’s mastery over power and speed as well as their ability to slow things down. Even in the softer sequences they still maintain a solid presence, such as with their track “Blood Out of Stone,” which showcases the band’s ability to take a slow approach without sacrificing substance.
The amount of metal goodness packed into every track makes it difficult to find something wrong with the album. It simply can’t be done. Zero Days is a far cry from the cookie-cutter methodology that has become prominent in metal genres of today. Rather, it features a multitude of creative approaches littered with headbang-inducing sequences — like on “Operation of the Moral Law” — that serve to kick the listener in the behind just to cement this fact.
Yes, it is understandable that people might have reservations about an album that involved such a quick turnaround since the band’s last touring cycle. However, by now,they should have learned that this rapid songwriting process has been working quite well for Prong, as they have released four solid albums within the last five years. Zero Days deserves just as much recognition as anything the band have done before — it’s just a phenomenal example of what three veteran metallers can do when they’re motivated to make something great.
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