ZAND - SEWERSTAR EP
After a busy year supporting acts such as Peaches, Bob Vylan, and a main stage slot at Slam Dunk Festival, ZAND has released the highly anticipated SEWERSTAR EP. This release incorporates different styles and slight genre changes that make it one of the more interesting releases of the year. Ranging from EDM fueled tracks to toning it down in more somber tracks, the EP covers a ton of ground for ZAND and showcases their range.
The album explores it’s own world crafted by ZAND that gives a grunge and grimey futuristic era and starts heavy with the track ‘DESCENT’. The heavy use of electronic elements in this track make this a hard hitting track reminiscent of early Die Antwoord with an edgier twist. In a lot of ways this feels like a very Nu-Metal inspired album as well, which tends to not work for a lot of artists but ZAND employs these influences well to craft and enhance their style. This flows and blends itself effortlessly with the next track ‘Deliverance’. The more and more I listen to it, it feels like it came straight out of The Queen of The Damned soundtrack. It just captures a dark aura and molds into a track that combines its electronic sludge sound with a dark cabaret, with the latter half of the track capsulating into an anthemic end.
In the next track ‘RELIGION’, ZAND shows a more poppy sound here that feels like it would be in the background of a Tik-Tok trend, in the best way possible. It’s a catchy ear-worm that you can find yourself humming or whistling along to. There’s a lot of Billie Eillish influence in this track that immediately made it stand out to me during first listen. In similar fashion, ‘BATTERY ACID’ follows the same formula and still slows it down a bit, creating a somber and sensitive soundscape. This is a standout in the SEWERSTAR that showcases the extreme end of the range they possess.
Rounding out the EP, tracks ‘D.T.F’ and ‘L.E.E.C.H.E.S’ capture the dark and dirty EDM influenced sound that make this EP a must listen. It captures an IDGAF vibe that lets you unleash and unwind each time these tracks come on. They are without a doubt the strongest one-two punch on this EP and show the most promise for ZAND and their future. I kept finding myself thinking about and coming back to these tracks, especially ‘L.E.E.C.H.E.S’, with deep gnarly vocals mixed into the EDM beat creating a perfect mashup.
Overall, I’d say this EP is a must listen to anyone within the EDM or nu-metal sphere, as it brings a sort-of particularness and nuance that is hard to find with other artists. I do think some of the slower tracks felt a little out of place, but the tracks were great as standalones so it doesn’t detract too far from the EP. ZAND makes a statement with this EP and is sure to be an artist that straddles the EDM and Alternative festival scene for years to come and is on my radar to catch live ASAP.
Alfredo Luna
★★★★☆