Thus Spoke Zarathus I’m Done With Self-Care, It’s Time For Others Harm CD Review
Let’s dig right into the latest from the Maryland Deathcore band, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. The album is entitled “I'm Done with Self Care; It's Time for Others' Harm”. This is the band’s debut for Prosthetic Records and it’s fitting considering the amount of Heavy the label consistently releases. It’s also not lost on me that Prosthetic Records has put out releases from bands like Lamb of God, while not Deathcore, there was some Core moments in that band’s earlier releases.
Moving along, TPZ, wastes little time trying to assault the listener. Typically, I’m not a fan of Deathcore or Core these days, the early days and oversaturation of Metalcore just wore me out, but this band sounds fresh and unique. For starters the band features 3 guitarists and all 3 weave lead breaks, riffs and melody lines in and out of each other. It’s intelligent, fun and lessens the brutality of the vocals and the drumming. I’m also a fan of the band’s rhythmic approach to the breakdowns in how they get there, it’s all riff based and leans into that mindset as opposed to the rhythm section being the main culprits. A lot of the Core type Metal reminds me of Jock wannabes who just didn’t know what to do with themselves, not here, these dudes are trying to fuck shit up by any means necessary and in any manner that they can. It also doesn’t hurt that the album is so well produced, time and extra care were given when it came to the mix, without a doubt.
This is a well-rounded Death Core effort from a younger band in the scene that’s hungry and wants to make an impact. I dig it and that’s saying something. I haven’t enjoyed an effort from the genre this much since I Killed the Prom Queen’s “Music for The Recently Deceased” and of course Suicide Silence’s “The Black Crown”.
Stand out tracks – “I Never Believed in Magic Till My Dog Turned Into a Snake”, “I Can’t Save You”, “Bereft of Light” and “Gage Lanza 2 Return of the Red Hammer”.