Zippo – Maktub

Zippo – Maktub
Subsound Records – 2011
Stoner, Sludge, Metal, Progressive
Rated: ****

It happens as it is written. I’ve never been one to hide my love for the heaviness of the riff, the bands that provide it and the different genres they may belong to. But the Italian five-piece going by the name Zippo is not an easy taste to acquire. Their first two records Ode To Maximum from 2006 and The Road To Knowledge from 2008 were already highly progressive and experimental sludge adventures. Intensely dynamic and utterly shifting between desert stoner and studio metal, heavy and hard in every way. When I saw the title of their new album released last year I was giddy with glee like a sixteen-year-old cheerleader looking to get her cherry popped. Maktub: the old Arabic proverb for ‘It Is Written’. And before we end up with a rant about Taoism, Alchemic laws and Hopi tales to counter the sixteen-year-old cheerleader remark, let’s us quickly go forth with the music. On their new record the Zippo masters have taken their progressive roots to an almost mathematical level and managed to keep even this; slightly psychedelic. A little breathing space added from here to there makes it all sound less clustered and gives the brutal riffs afterwards that extra barbaric feel. Emotional vocals, technical bass-work and excellent guitar-lines take you on a lengthy almost mythical journey and speak of what was known from the start. It’s not the destination but the journey towards it that counts…

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