Review: Civilian Zen – Horizones (released August 11, 2016)
UK band Civilian Zen make a welcome return with more of their unique style of space rock on their latest album, Horizones. The band, consisting of the trio of Mark Andrew Broster (bass, voice, poems, midi bass, fx), Ralph Wordenweber (drums, percussion, midi drums, vocals) and Keith Hill (vocals, guitars, fx, synths) rev up their engines to maximum power and explode into space with this dazzling new album.
Horizones opens with an intriguing and atmospheric ‘shamanic dream vs dystopian reality’ meditation before kicking into high gear with the excellent, Hawkwind-like first cut Auda-City, and things are on their way from there. From the industrial throb space orgy madness of Void Waves to the creeping, hallucinatory odyssey of the title track to the blow out, energy infused space rock of The Seer, Civilian Zen cover a lot of ground on this 14-track release. You can hear some of the band’s heaviest moments here, but there’s still plenty of their trademark ambient interludes as well, some of them whole songs like the vast and lonely The Emerald Dream or the cosmic tribal punch of Havoc. Standout tracks include the epic feedback laden freakout of Adver-City, the darkly menacing Hologram, and the trippy, riff-laden Intravenous Earth. Horizones is comprised of space rock of the highest order.
This time out, Civilian Zen have chosen to record their album live in the studio. All the superb sound quality and tight musicianship is still there, but this time there is a very welcome rawer edge to the music, along with the blistering energy that comes from a live performance. This music is so hotwired, you think it’s going to shock you if you touch it. Civilian Zen are one of the brightest lights in modern space rock and Horizones is highly recommended!
For more info, visit: https://civilianzen-music.bandcamp.com/album/horizones-new-album-2016
