TOTAL CASTRATION

Finally, after two albums of miserable- yet oddly promising- and monotonous noise, Zeni Geva would finally start sharpening up their sound with the third album 'Total Castration'. Although this Japanese band still maintained a very raw and jarring sound with their original brand of metal, I would finally start hearing something in the band's formula that was lacking prior to this; that being of direction. All the same, 'Total Castration' still illustrates that Zeni Geva would have a while to go before they started making music I could really enjoy.

As I have said, and would say in any discussion regarding this band, they have a interesting, and even unique sound to them that I have not quite heard before, but at the same time, the way they execute this sound is incredibly sloppy, and the writing usually leaves something to be desired. I could have gone on for ages about how the band's first two albums 'Maximum Love & Fuck' and 'Maximum Money Machine' needed more ideas in them, or how it did not seem fair to the band's riffs to be used over and over again until they became barely listenable. To that record, I could still say some of the same things about 'Total Castration', but I suppose Zeni Geva noticed some of the same things about their early music that I did, and therefore they did the best thing I could have hoped them to do; maintaining their style, while cutting off some of the unnecessary elements. Largely gone are the plodding repetitions of one riff, or the songs that attempt to pass on only one idea alone. It appears the band's skill with playing has even improved. All the same, none of this has been done to the degree where I would have really been satisfied. The potential I heard even from the beginning of this band's career has come a step closer to realization, but there is still a ways to go.

Zeni Geva are certainly a metal band first and foremost, but it would be difficult to categorize them in any particular category. They have elements of thrash, sludge, doom, drone, and even hardcore punk all thrown into the mix, and all of these styles merge into Zeni Geva's distinct style. The band's earlier work generally relied on straightforward thrash riffs that were made weird only by the odd, out-of-tuned way they were played. 'Total Castration' makes these sounds more out-of-tune, and while there has been no effort to make these riffs any more technical, there is a clear change where the band has sought to use strange chords, much like the Canadian band Voivod. The vocals here are also a huge part of what makes Zeni Geva distinctive; the vocals of KK Null are a highly Japanese-accented shout, that sounds like an angry samurai. The songwriting here has been largely improved, although there is still a large amount of repetition, especially during the last track; given the cute title 'I Hate You'. This can lead back to the monotonous sensation I experienced with the first Zeni Geva works, but at least the riffs are quite a bit more interesting.

'Total Castration' sees Zeni Geva make their first credible music, in my opinion. I had no love for the earlier stuff, and while Zeni Geva is not yet out of the woods with this one, I do find myself enjoying it leagues over anything they had done in the past. I can only hope they take these developments in their sound and run with them on future albums.