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Review: Züül - To the Frontlines
Züül
www.facebook.com/zuulheavymetal
To the Frontlines

Label: High Roller Records
Year released: 2012
Duration: 43:58
Tracks: 9
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
3/5


Review online: January 5, 2013
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.07/5 (81.43%) (28 Votes)
Review

Zuul are about as bare-bones as you can get when it comes to old-fashioned beer-and-pretzels Heavy Metal. I've heard their earlier works and I always thought - and still think - that they could be a good band with a decent recording job. This is one of those bands that cannot distinguish between a "raw" recording job, and one that just sucks. This sounds like it was recorded with sponges wrapped around the microphones, as everything is muffled and mushy. The lead work actually jumps out, and some of it is very good, so clearly the rest of this doesn't have to sound as shitty as it does. Vocalist "The Baron Batteau"(?) is especially victimized by the production, as his vocals are all but buried in the mix, making him sound dull and lifeless.

All that said, even with a better recording, this would only be so good. Zuul are decent songwriters, but they don't come up with anything that does not sound utterly cliché. Their songwriting is derivative and plain, and no amount of umlauts will change that. Weak.

More about Züül...
Review: Howl of the Wolf (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: Out of Time (reviewed by Hermer Arroyo)
Review: Out of Time (reviewed by MetalMike)
Review: To the Frontlines (reviewed by Luxi Lahtinen)
Review: To the Frontlines (reviewed by MetalMike)
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