Philadelphia’s fun-loving occultists Zorn (not to be confused with the German band of the same name, and with composer John Zorn (although I’d put good money down on the fact that they’re probably named after him) released an excellent EP last year called, what else, Hardcore Zorn.
It’s not a departure in any way, shape, or form from their established style, that of wild noise rock and post-punk inflected d-beat. To be clear, this is absolutely a good thing. Zorn fucking rule! And now that Hardcore Zorn is getting a vinyl treatment via Sorry State’s record label, I get to talk about it here. Don your black lipstick and fishnets, boys; we’re going grave robbing.
Possibly the closest living, sonic, relative to Zorn’s sound are another demonic punk band presently lurking around Philly, Devil Master. There are two key differences between these groups, A) Zorn’s devil-worship is satirical (I think … probably), and B) Zorn don’t really do black metal. It might sound like they do sometimes, but that’s not really what they are going for.
Devil Master are all about both those things: Satan and black metal. It’s cool to see how their sounds converge in their shared adoption of d-beat blitz. But it’s even more impressive to see how they diverge, with Devil Master cribbing from Bathery demos, and Zorn cob-webbing together riffs and howls in such a manner that they resemble a frantic, Bela Lugosi summoning spell.
“Lament” breaks the seal on Hardcore Zorn’s tomb with a noisy hurricane of sharp, angular riffs, bloodletting grooves, and a ghoulishly unhinged vocal performance from Eric Teofilak, sounding like the Butthole Surfers after an unfortunate run-in with Pazuzu. “Keeper of Secrets” is propelled by a lurching punk stomp that sounds like it is taking place terminating from a mosh pit in a graveyard that was presently the site of a Trioxin spill.
“Fickle Blessing” kind of sounds like Oozing Wound’s Zack Weils backed by a totally methed out Toxic Holocaust, while “Fall to Pray” embraces a straightforward hardcore pummel, a flaming chariot that serves as a vehicle for half-delirious thrash guitar solos and some crowded sounding, monster gang vocals. Zorn are as twisted and evil as ever on Hardcore Zorn, and they’re normally as twisted and as evil as they come.
Buy and stream Hardcore Zorn below via Bandcamp:
Get a copy of Hardcore Zorn on vinyl from Sorry State here.
