Zombie Picnic "Rise of a New Ideology"

As I love to say upon noticing your return, welcome back fellow progheads!  Always a pleasure to have standing room only in The Closet Concert Arena, and lately it has been shoulder-to-shoulder madness as we continue the search for all things prog.  2018 may be the Year of the Dog in China, but it is the Year of the Prog here in the garden!  Lots of new bands breaking ground, and many more bands and artists coming back to the garden to plant new crops...and The Concert Closet has the best seat in the house to check 'em all out!

This week I honor me Ma (she's a "Sheehan--with two e's" is how she says it), as the search for all things prog heads back to the Emerald Isle to check in with a prog band that just released their second album upon the masses, Rise of a New Ideology.  Let us walk through the garden together expounding on the sounds of Zombie Picnic.  My first thought was death metal when I heard the name, and therein lies the mystery--and the fun--because this band is closer to Picket Fences than Walking Dead...and off to the garden we go...

Zombie Picnic is self described as "...post-rock instrumental..."  So with a focus on their latest release, I plan to indulge on as much of the Picnic as I can.  Two albums laid out in the garden for our listening pleasure means lots of mind exercise just in time for spring.  First up is Democracy Cannot Survive.  The song opens with a short-wave radio like warning complete with static, and bleeds right into a musical overview of a barren landscape still smoldering as the sun rises slowly.  Top notes of Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" days waft through the mist, giving rise to aromatics of Phil Manzanera's guitar mastery...an ideology I can relate to...


Next serving placed on the platter is Life-Support Systems, which in an ironic way is much more upbeat.  The guitar has a swagger that grabs the drums and struts like the queen of the ball, demanding everyone's attention.  There is a Dreadnaught vibe to this tune, something about the way everything just works together while fun wends its way through the headphones.  Zombie Picnic cleared a wide swath on their journey through the prog garden.  The instrumental approach is stretched just a bit as Zombie Picnic mixes "message clips" and other spoken background pieces into their sound like parmigiana cheese added to piping hot popcorn; they are intertwined and now the magic is complete.

Liner Notes...Originally formed in 2012, Zombie Picnic hails from Limerick, Ireland and is comprised of Jim Griffin and Dave Tobin on guitars, Brian Fitzgerald on bass, and Brendan Miller on drums.  Yes there is no credited vocalist...just four musicians laying deep instrumental roots in the prog garden.  This makes the "vocal snippets" on the new release more beguiling; the hall monitors of the rabbit hole if you will.

Zombie Picnic released their debut Suburb of Earth in 2016.  It too, is an extremely busy canvas, splattered with bright primary colors that are connected with off beat hues.  This is a quartet that seems to enjoy gathering in the studio and just leaving the world behind.  These are two albums you want in your arsenal when breaking in new headphones...

The final selection for review this week is from said debut, "The Rama Committee."  A mellow opening belies the intent as this song delves deep into your subconscious.  There is a calmness along the lines of a Jaco Pastorius/Pat Metheny impromtu jam session throughout the entire piece...smooth as melted chocolate cascading down the sides of a layer cake...

Zombie Picnic staked their claim in a semi-dark corner of the prog garden; no direct light needed but nothing ominous brewing either.  They are more of a lunar band, emitting a silver moonlight glow.  Learn more about Zombie Picnic and purchase either or both of their albums at Zombie Picnic bandcamp.  You will also find them on Facebook at
Zombie Picnic FB and on Twitter @zombiepicnicire.

I was fortunate enough to locate a video clip from the new album to whet your appetite, "Anger in Storage (Denial Will Follow)."  This cut opens like a Liquid Tension Experiment outtake, only to melt right into a slick, stainless steel smooth, Talking Heads-like walk across a marsh...and oh that voice-over!  She leads you right down the garden trail to the briar patch.  My favorite thing about this song is not knowing where it's coming from or where it's going; you just gotta have faith the guys have the journey mapped out.

Zombie Picnic steps out here to paint with primary colors while explaining the whole "new ideology" thing.  This is an album that doesn't ride the mood elevator for kicks; they swing the pendulum across an emotional and psychological landscape.  The canvas is splattered with hues that bleed real passion.  It is rare that an album with little to no vocals says so much about a society and its foibles.  A prog documentary if you will...peel back the curtain and look deeper...listen to what the metal says...


                   

OK progheads, savor this one as it blows the cobwebs and dust bunnies from your mind.  Zombie Picnic walks that fine line between mind-blowing and thought-provoking with the grace of a dancer in the Bolshoi Ballet.  Prog metal is an offshoot of the genre that in my humble opinion is often abused; some bands are loud for the sake of making noise and hide under the prog metal umbrella.  But Zombie Picnic chose a different route much like Will Geraldo when he feels he has something important to say.

Rise of a New Ideology conjures up many things; images of  George Orwell's Big Brother from 1984, the Kent State Protest of 1970, The Chicago Seven in 1968, Martin Luther King's March on Washington 1963...the list goes on.  The mortar between these bricks is ferocity.  Prog music has the ability to be intense even when it whispers through the headphones...all you have to do is listen.  Zombie Picnic harnessed that energy and is able to whisper and scream without scaring you off or losing your interest.

Now of course the search all things prog must continue onward...and with a renewed sense of spirit I take the Closet Concert Arena on another leg of an incredible journey...until next time...