RISE OF A NEW IDEOLOGY

ZOMBIE PICNIC is an oddball in the post-rock world. The band name connotes some sort of apocalyptic musical vision but it cranks out more of a happy vibe than not even when the heavy rock parts are cranked up. Nothing menacing at all by this quartet from Limerick, Ireland that consists of Jim Griffin (guitar), Dave Tobin (guitar), Brian Fitzgerald (bass) and Brendan Miller (drums). Likewise, the cover art of an upside down pyramid rising from the forest with an onlooking hiker contemplating the various hues of pink and purple looks more like an album cover for some sort of electronica band that uses simplistic fortified imagery with colors, textures and symbology to convey a message. But what message are they going for? I'm stumped.

This all-instrumental band formed all the way back in 2012 but didn't release their debut "A Suburb Of Earth" until 2016 which displayed an unorthodox mix of Pink Floyd fortified space rock and heavy classic rock riffing in the context of the typical cyclical melodic loops of post-rock. The album was nothing less than adventurous for post-rock and more often than not felt as if it was ready to transmogrify into more of a classic progressive rock style rather than remain streamlined into the steady march that a post-rock album endures to remain within its proper subgenre confines. However, the band crafted a unique specimen of post-rock that while not exactly consistent in that escapist's paradise vibe that a good post-rock album presents, did manage to stand out from the pack.

The band's sophomore release RISE OF A NEW IDEOLOGY released two years later in 2018 finds the band jettisoning much of the angsty excess from the debut and going more by the accepted post-rock playbook that allows the album to flow as an uninterrupted stream of consciousness, a trait that makes a post-rock album, well sound like post-rock! However, many of the traits that embellished the debut did make a reprise for this sophomore release. The album consists of six tracks with the first two being the longest at over nine minutes. The remaining are shorter and to the point with none exceeding six minutes. While the opening and closing tracks "Democracy Cannot Survive" and "Anger In Storage (Denial Will Follow)" cruise by on mellow mode and sound more like typical post-rock constructs, the mid-section adds the beefy guitar riffing and more rocking motifs albeit not quite as energetically as the debut.

Also back are the spoken word segments although they appear less frequently are more subdued and are performed by voice actors rather than samples of movie clips or famous speeches. The album floats by and almost sounds like it could quality as a psychedelic space rock album with its devotion to suave atmospheric backdrops, floaty free floating vibes and echoey guitar reverberations. The overt Pink Floyd and King Crimson influences have been tamped down for a more post-rock friendly show but the rock parts feel like real rock as they alternate from the spacey ethereal segments. While the heavier and softer passages alternate, there is plenty of attention to the production, mixing and radiophonic elements which smooth over the inherit roughness of the chugging guitars and overall drive to add a sense of recklessness to the progressive pseudo-math rock segments.

Overall this is a decent but not outrageously brilliant slice of post-rock with hard rock influences. Personally i prefer the debut as it was more diverse but at the same time it lacked a cohesiveness that made it a stellar post-rock release. While the band improved on that front, it was at the expense of some of the experimentation involved which still exists in smaller doses and more behind the scenes in presentation when it does occur. The trade offs seem to have made this one a less substantial in-yer-face experience but does succeed in an interesting mix of bombast and spaced out detachment. This is a pretty cool presentation of post-rock but the band still seems to be lacking the higher perspective or purpose upon which to construct the post-rock paradigm around and the entire album comes of as a rather aimless parade down a series of alternating subdued space rock and more cranking hard guitar distorted rock. A band to watch out for but they haven't quite found that perfect sound yet.

3.5 rounded down