Search - Zymosiz :: Virust

One of the worst PBR releases

MTJones | San Jose, CA United States | 12/25/2000

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Possessive Blindfold Recordings has an amazing track record. For a label that's the smallest of the small, underground in the industrial scene, it has the distinction of releasing quality products nearly every time. This, though, is one of the exceptions. ZymOsiZ, the solo project of ex-Holocaust Theory member, James Curzon Vietzke, is his excursion into power noise. It has all the trappings of the genre, from distorted, noisy beats to shredded static to cold ambience. The problem is, they're used so repetitively and so unimaginatively that they quickly lose their appeal. The sound is very dated and formulaic, suggesting Vietzke was working on it for a long time and released it long after the classics had beaten him to the punch. Some of the tracks use the standard tricks, from grinding motorized rhythms to shrill knob-twiddling. The whole effort is so sludgy (not in the effective way that Holocaust Theory does it, but rather sludgy in the wading-through-waist-high-mud way) that listening is a chore. Quite frankly, this is one of the worst albums in the power noise genre, and it legitimizes the dissenters' complaints that power noise is formulaic and repetitive. Virust has some nice moments, but they're drowned out by the poor ones. I don't understand how someone from the excellent Holocaust Theory duo came to this. I'm hoping the follow up redeems Mr. Vietzke."