Civilian Zen – “Live Voids EP” (self-released 2014, Download)

The Live Voids EP is a free download combination of studio track and excerpt from Civilian Zen’s appearance at the September 2013 Hastrek Festival in Derby, UK. For this performance the band consisted of Keith Hill on vocals, guitar, programming, FX and audio generators, Ralph Wordenweber on drums and percussion, and mark Andrew on bass and vocals, plus Rich Om guesting on audio generators and FX.

This is the most out there Hawk styled space rocking I’ve heard from Civilian Zen yet. Void (intro) could have been titled Welcome to the Civilian Zen Space Ritual. It’s a cosmic buildup of staccato rhythms, whoosing and howling space waves, freaky electronic effects, and mission control voice samples. Quest For Vision is a spoken word piece backed by wild alien effects that recalls Robert Calvert. Careful With That (austerity) Axe takes the core Careful With That Axe riff and otherwise sends it hurtling it completely into their own realm, making it a heavy rocking space jam exploration and managing to out freakout Pink Floyd in the process. Very cool. And Sphere Of Destiny is an easy paced space-metal song. All too brief but very cool so check it out as it’s a free download. Keith told me a while back he’s working on a new full length Civilian Zen album so I hope this is a taste of things to come.

Stream and download at the Civilian Zen web site at: http://civilianzen-music.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

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