ESCAPE VELOCITY

With 2009's Spirit Animal, Zombi moved away from their original synth and bass roots in favor of a more fleshed-out and symphonic prog rock sound. Escape Velocity proves that this newfound style was no more than a mere experiment, seeing that this album sounds very much like their older material. If you're a fan of rhythmically-busy progressive electronic music with dense textures and an energetic prog-rock feel, Escape Velocity is certainly something you'll want to investigate further. I find the album a tad too repetitive and unvaried, but it's certainly an acquired taste. Fans of prog rock focused heavily on ambience will find plenty to love here for sure.

The music on Escape Velocity sounds like it could have come straight out of the seventies. Zombi is obviously very fond of early progressive electronic music (Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, and Klaus Schulze) as well as psychedelic prog rock like Hawkwind or Pink Floyd. Vintage synths, ambient song structures, and lush arrangements all characterize this observation. Zombi is a duo and plays completely instrumental music relying (on this album, at least) mainly on digital instrumentation. There may be a lack of a "human touch", so to speak, but that droning meditative atmosphere is probably what will make this release so appealing to most listeners. I personally crave music that is a bit busier and less repetitive - most of the songs here only consist of one or two main ideas, and slowly build into a climax at the end of the piece. Zombi does a superb job at making these songs as powerful as possible, though, and I find myself enjoying the entire album. I would've liked some more variation in the arrangements, but considering the album is only a mere 33 minutes, Escape Velocity never feels monotonous or anything like that.

Escape Velocity is a high-quality product with memorable songs, a terrific vintage-sounding production, and great ambience. Fans of Zombi that were scared away by the full-on prog arrangements of their previous album should find plenty to love on Escape Velocity. This release is a bit too short and repetitive for me to consider it excellent, but it's still a very solid effort worthy of 3.5 stars. Fans of energetic progressive electronic music should definitely give this one a spin.