Friday, November 7, 2014

Zeolite - "Earthmover"

Tasmanian metal rockers Zeolite present their debut single, "Earthmover."

After about a year of playing together and creating recordings out of their own home studios, Zeolite has recorded their first official single with mixing help by Alex Preito of Albatross Audio. They are currently recording their second single, "Astringent" with Dave Venter of Fat Lip studios.

"Earthmover" is a blend of many sub-genres stemming from metal. The band says they hope the listener will draw their own interpretation of their sound and won't try to pigeon hole their sound into any one genre or sub-genre. But they also cite the core elements of their music as progressive metal, melodic death metal and tech metal. You can definitely hear the "tech" elements as the song opens with a gritty downtempo drum machine beat. The intro feels like something that could have been on the soundtrack of The Matrix with EQ sweeps moving the frequency of the drum beat back and forth across the spectrum. Support from atmospheric synths add to the sci-fi feel of the intro until the band comes in full force with shredding guitars and pounding, extremely fast drum beats. Double bass drum pedal is a common tool for metal bands and I'd be very surprised if we aren't hearing one on the drumming by James Howard. Perhaps he just has feet worthy of The Flash, but either way, the drums on this track are not playing around. Very technical and fast, the band truly embodies the feeling that the lyrics express:

"Pent up, neanderthalic actions, furthering nothing.
Maybe it's time, to find another way to validate your existence.
Neanderthalic actions, furthering nothing.
Maybe it's time to find another way to validate your existence.

"Is it so hard to just let it go?
These fragile egos, replusing [sic] correction.

"Well maybe it's time to swallow your pride.

"Unable to articulate your thoughts.
Your fists still sting from making your point.
Left with feelings of regret.

"Where did your empathy go?"

That last lyric seems to encapsulate the entire emotional content of Zeolite's message here. Anger is an emotion that when best used motivates us to do something, to make a difference in our lives. Vocalist Fraser Mainwaring carries this feeling from the lyric content into the sonic realm. Raging thrash-worthy vocals emote the frustration and pain from a lack of empathy. And who can't relate to that. It's all too common in our modern society to cross paths with people that have zero empathy with each other. This social disease, if you will, has resulted in some rather tragic incidents all over the world and Zeolite seems to channel the collective outrage that the societies of our world should feel after so much strife and violence.

The music elements of this song don't vary wildly in dynamics after the intro ends. We are hit with a wall of sounds consisting of big drum rolls, chugging guitar rhythm sections and vocals that would leave me pouring honey on my vocal chords for days. Clocking in at over 5 minutes, it's surprising that the overall compositions actually doesn't feel tired by the end. The band does an excellent job of vibing off each other and keeping the performance alive and breathing together like one musical organism.

With only one official release for Zeolite, there is much to look forward to from this Tasmanian outfit. You can pick up their music online at their band camp site here:
And also look for them on Facebook at


  1. I've just moved to Tasmania a couple months ago and being right into metal (and it's sub-genres) very quickly found my way to a Zeolite show. To say their recorded sound is an accurate reproduction of their live sound is an understatement.
    Their technicality and ability as live musicians is amazing, and their consistency and energy despite playing multiple gigs in a short space of time in the same venue to a lot of the same people is amazing.

    Josh, Spalford, Tasmania, Australia

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