Zebulon Kosted - You Have No Race You Have No Culture

Darkness, Machinery and Human Disgust - 95%

This review came as a request by Rachid Abdel Ghafour, the man behind Zebulon Kosted. He sent his request by e-mail, asking me if I could review his last album "You Have No Race You Have No Culture", released in June 6th, 2017. I only have good things to say about this record. 



This album is, as a matter of fact, a taste of black metal of a strong flavor. This is epicurean music, and one must have a special mood to digest this. Once you get through the superficial layers of the album's structure, you can achieve the subliminal paths that Rachid wrote within this masterpiece.

I gave this album two runs. One I listened while working, and the other I took my cellphone and listened with my headphones while I traveled through Lisbon, in circles, on the suburban bus. Why? Because this is an absolute tone setting album, and is better that you prepare your own setting to truly appreciate this piece of work.

The album opens with what resembles someone beating an oil drum with sticks, and some slow riffing. It builds up the atmosphere to the second track, that is called "Stripping, Burning, Crushing". One thing that will you notice from the start, aside from the song blasting away at your ears, is the tone of the guitars. They sound quite metallic, in a good way. As if your only means of communication with the outside world is a DIY telephone made with a can of beans and a chord. It sounds so urban and industrial. Love this tone.

The guitars here play tree parts: create a wall of sound; create the atmosphere and also build upon some very interesting melodies. Rachid doesn't play anything highly technical here, but he has some interesting melodic sections that break the oppressing atmosphere of the song structure, in a very good way. They feel like a fresh breeze on a heavy industrialized scenery, and I gotta make mention of the melody in  the track "With the Best of Intentions". I just love the build up this song has. It is very trippy, with some effects that can be achieved either by a synth or a guitar with effects, and a soul crushing distorted bass just setting the tempo and the heavy oppressing atmosphere. And so it blasts into a military tempo style power chord progression, very akin to what you are used to listen in the early works of Aborym, but with his own tin layered metallic tone, until it transitions to a more melodic style, that has one hell of a beautiful, and rather oppressing, vibe to it. This is by far my favorite track of the album.

Another track worth mentioning is "That False God". I love the percussion here. This is what Stomp would sound if they were into black metal. It just takes you to a war destroyed setting, full of rubble, where you just take in the destruction built upon fairy tales (aka religion).

All and all, I just loved this album. The tone and the message behind this is sublime. This is my first contact with this band, and I will explore more of Rachid's work. If you are into some soul crushing, nasty sounding, mechanized black metal with that special drop of misanthropy and hatred to the modern era, then give this album a go.

Band related links:

http://zebulonkosted.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Zebulon-Kosted/58054780684
http://myspace.com/zebulonkosted
http://soundcloud.com/zebulon-kosted

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