Review: Zone Six - Love Monster

It's been eleven loooong years since the last proper studio album from Zone Six, but rejoice friends for there is another about to appear over the horizon....and you will no doubt be unsurprised to hear that it shreds!

Having been a unit for some eighteen years these guys intuitively know how to cook up a righteous psychedelic / space/kraut stew. Founder member Dave Schmidt (Sula Bassana) is once again joined by Komet Lulu on bass, Martin Schorn (Modulfix) on synths and Rainer Neeff (from The Pancakes) on guitar with Dave on sticks duty .This (un)holy quartet also play together in Krautzone and of course Dave Schmidt and Komet Lulu play together in Electric Moon (all hail Electric Moon!).

The title track opens the proceedings with Komet Lulu's bass laying the foundation of a rhythm that does not waver an inch throughout, the bass and the drums keeping almost metronomic time. The guitar of Neeff soon makes itself heard and straightaway you can tell that you are in for a fest of acid jamming of the highest order. The synths don't get left out, they add some wonderful washes of spacey sound that give the track some real texture. As the track progresses Neeff really lets loose with his instrument...rich in distortion at times with layers of reverb and wah wah. It is with tracks such as this that the organic symbiosis of a seasoned group of musicians can be heard .....each instrument seems to feed off each other and as one takes a breath there is another to step up. The track rattles along with Neeff's guitar making shapes ...sometimes fluid, flowing shapes, sometimes stabbing, staccato shapes but the level of intensity never drops below 'freakout' . It really is a monumental track......whilst writing this I listened to it several times on the turn and every time there was something new to pick out - a trace of a middle eastern melody here, some kosmische keyboards there ....but from the initial bass notes to the concluding crescendo this is sublime psychedelic music played by four heads who know how to fry your synapses.

'The Insight' starts with the synths laying down a spacey bed for the others to build on, it oscillates and swirls whilst the rock solid rhythm section slowly build up the tempo and intensity. This track is more spacerock than straight up psychedelic with the guitar initially a little further down in the mix, and the synths further up giving us a different experience than that of 'Love Monster' but different does NOT mean lesser. The synths have a real Klaus Schulze vibe and when they are joined by Neeff's guitar ...wow! 'Acidic' at seven and a half minutes is the shortest of the four tracks and once again is heralded by the relentless bass of Komet Lulu and once again the band work in perfect harmony to produce another huge slab of spacey krautrock with Schmidt knocking out a motorik beat that Neeff and Schorn riff over. 'Cosmogyral' is the last, and longest, track at just over fifteen minutes. It begins low key with the guitar playing some almost sultry psychedelia and the synths sounding like Tangerine Dream. The guitars are soon ramped up and the distortion and reverb quickly reach brain-melting level but still being underpinned by dreamlike synth washes. As ever the bass and drums keep everyone on track. At about the five minute mark Neeff really lets go, possibly utilising every effect pedal he owns and his guitar positively wails, but the other three sound almost sedate....I had real visions of Neeff sweating and blowing whilst the others just sat/stood there doing their thing...this is a masterclass in psychedelic guitar! The track fractures at the end with the synths coming once again to the fore and the guitar mere stabs of feedback and distortion.

This is a monster, both in name and nature...the musicianship is outstanding from all concerned, the 'freakout' level is permanently high and, all in all, is a blistering collection of psychedelic, kraut-infused spacerock and, yet again, Sulatron has a real winner on its hands. 'Love Monster' will be released on CD by Sulatron on 30th April with a vinyl version following later via Deep Distance Records....and I for one will be first in the queue for that.