https://www.facebook.com/859238067490555/

Jupiter Zeus

With each release, heavy music veterans Jupiter Zeus have added new weapons to their arsenal. Their first record, 2011's Green Mosquito, introduced the band in a 13-minute flurry of deeply melodic, groove-heavy rock. Its follow-up, 2014's On Earth expanded these foundations into an album of gargantuan proportions. Eyes On The Prize (2017) brought further expansion still, pushing the band's mutatio

n of psychedelic doom to new heights. Taking a creative step forward yet again, 2020's self-produced Central Ave is the band's rawest and heaviest record to date. Upon a lineup change that saw them carry on as a three-piece, Jupiter Zeus decided to embrace the new conditions and mark this era with a unique record. Reflecting the band's '90s heritage in much-loved death metal pioneers Nebula, Central Ave incorporates more guttural vocal layers into Jupiter Zeus' amalgam of stoner and space rock. As well as this, the band opted for production that essentially predates the digital era of quantizing the truth out of performances. Instead, Central Ave relies solely on the band's natural chemistry, capturing them as they sound to live audiences. Central Ave is not reinvention. It is merely refinement. Everything fans would hope for – from the band's crushing guitar sound, to the ethereal vocal delivery, to the ever-present stargazing and mythologizing – is delivered in abundance. If anything, Central Ave is the most 'Jupiter Zeus' record to date. The extra flourishes, and the extra heaviness it brings, is a gift to the band's longest standing fans, and indeed a representation of Jupiter Zeus' own fandom of the vast universe of heavy music. Bands are a journey, not a static photograph of a single moment in time. The records they produce are the testament to the 'when' and 'how' of it all. To that end, Central Ave is pivotal in the ongoing story of Jupiter Zeus. A defining moment, captured forever. Within the realness and rawness of its sound, nothing has been lost or diluted. From the opening moment of Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt, it is business as usual for Jupiter Zeus, as the unmistakable voice of Simon Staltari cuts through the deep miasma of growling ferocity. And, needless to say, the record is overflowing with the truest trademark of Jupiter Zeus: riffs. Central Ave has riffs for days. As a body of work, the eight tracks on Central Ave are perfectly at home amidst the band's finest work. Some songs are slower, doomier and more imposing, while others soar and glide. The pummelling attack of End Is Nigh complements the melodic excitement of Meat War Machine. The staccato of Aaron's Hotel and Con Song contrast against the more flowing articulation of Common Foe and epic closer Leaving.