Zebrahead – 0
Thirty years. That is how long Zebrahead has now existed, and with “O” they round off an EP series that began with “I”, followed by “II” and “III”, a cleverly constructed series of smaller releases instead of the traditional full album. The band from La Habra, California, had been making their way since the nineties with a mix of pop-punk, rap-rock and that typical, never entirely serious energy that turned their best songs into parties. With vocalist Ali Tabatabaee and guitarist Adrian Estrella still on board, plus the established core of Ben Osmundson, Ed Udhus and Dan Palmer, the band sounds surprisingly fit for a group that has already been going for three decades.
Opener “Burn Burn Burn” immediately sets the tone, and not gently. Drummer Udhus himself described the song as a cross between Slayer and Taylor Swift drinking Red Bull vodka until six in the morning, and that description hits the nail on the head. It is aggressive, it is melodic, and it has just enough bravado to make it clear that this band has no intention of taking it easy towards retirement. The guitar solo swings out like a middle finger to anyone who thought Zebrahead only had nostalgia to offer anymore.
“I Know What U Did Last Summer” builds on that energy, with a heavier edge than we are used to from the band, while “Smoke Signals From My Couch” shows that they can still write a catchy hook without going full throttle. Especially that last song is a breath of fresh air amid the wall of sound, with a groove that breathes instead of pounds. “Happy Endings at the Movies”, on the other hand, feels somewhat predictable, a song that leans on the familiar Zebrahead formula without really adding anything new to it. It is fine, it hits hard, but it does not surprise.
What does keep this EP standing is the conviction with which the band delivers everything. Zebrahead does not sound like a group desperately trying to remain relevant, they sound like a band that knows exactly what their audience wants and delivers it with complete commitment. Closing track “I Don’t Know How to Put This (But I’m Kinda a Big Deal)” is exactly the kind of self-aware, tongue-in-cheek song with which you close a thirty-year anniversary, grand, noisy and without a shadow of a doubt.
“O” is not a record that rewrites history, and it does not have to. It is a loud, energetic statement from a band that does exactly what it is good at, with enough bite to show that the years have slowed them down very little. For the fans, this is exactly what they want to hear, for everyone else, a fine lesson in how to remain relevant for thirty years without ever standing still. (7/10) (MFZB Records)
