When you take a bit of Morbid Angel, mix it with some Meshuggah and layer it with elements of groove and melody you get the Perth metal outfit Sanzu. Sanzu was formed in 2013 by Ben Stanley and ‘Century’. The current lineup is
Vocals – Zachary Andrews
Guitar – Jarod ‘Century’
Guitar – Mikey Hart
Drums – Ben Stanley
Bass – Fatima Curley
Their 5 track debut ‘Painless‘ was released in April of 2015. The EP kicks off with ‘18 Days of Rain‘, a bass-heavy groove intro that moves quickly into a faster-paced old school style death metal song. This moves seamlessly into the next track ‘For All, a much slower song with very chugging riffs. This song along with ‘Defamer‘ has a strong djent feel reminiscent of Meshuggah. Both songs are very groovy so that you can’t help but move your head to it. The bass of Fatima is very prominent but not overpowering or out of place. Zachary uses a mix of mid to high vocals which sit perfectly within all of the songs.
Sanzu changes the sound in ‘Valient Red‘ and ‘Lunar Crush‘ for a faster-paced song with ‘Lunar Crush‘ sounding like it could be a Morbid Angel song with its strong heavy riffs and ‘Varient Red‘ with a change in tempo that feels like being hit in the chest by a truck.
Overall this is a very enjoyable E.P.
Release Year: 2015
Label: self-released
Category: EP
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Sam Gibson
