Since releasing their previous singles in “Section” and “Hydrate” the band have had a busy year playing numerous gigs, appearing on the bill of local music festivals and more recently performing a random early evening set on board the steamship SS Shieldhall in what was supposed to be a nice acoustic showcase stage… until Zenthetix turned up fully electric.
It’s the sort of thing that would easily appear in a Spinal Tap remake and many an unsigned band have those cringe-worthy stories, but Zenthetix make up for it by the opening track from their upcoming EP having been featured on BBC’s Introducing and the aforementioned single “Hydrate” being used in the independent film “Parallel Lines”.
The Maelstrom EP starts with “Bending Light” and it’s no wonder it was chosen for the radio, for it plays safe along the rock spectrum in that it’s not too extreme and the clean production making it radio friendly even if the bands’ name takes a little getting used too. Granted if you type Zenthetix into your search engine you won’t find much else other than articles on the band, but then again there’s probably good reason as to why the name hasn’t already been taken…
It is also however the production that’s noticeable on the two middle tracks in “Blood & Bacardi” and “Fly”, Zenthetix had originally intended this to be an album and having been holed up in WMD Studio’s recording and then mastering over at Envy Studio time and money had the project downsized to an EP, with care taken over how the songs would finally be pieced together – both of these tunes having slight acoustic elements to them and the breakdown on “Blood” sounding, dare I say it, in a style that would be appealing to fans of Bon Jovi (as a side note, I do actually like Bon Jovi).
The song “Maelstrom” however moves into synth territory and technically is the stand out tune on this release, I used Linkin Park as a reference point in a previous review about Zenthetix and the EP’s title track is the closest to this, kicking off with a keyboard intro it sits well alongside the three that preceded it whilst having that nu-metal alternative edge, again without straying too far away from the mainstream.
Zenthetix “Maelstrom EP“ is officially due out early 2016 although be sure to keep an ear out for any remixes in the near future too, for it happened with their earlier releases and may well happen again but as for booking the band as an acoustic act, remind them they need to leave the electronics at home.
