For those of you who are familiar with the movie and soundtrack,
The Queen Of The Damned, you may be familiar with the band Kidneythieves. If not, then may not have heard of such a band. Kidneythieves is a unique two man band (Free Dominquez & Bruce M. Somers, not including tour band members) with a very Industrial/ Trip-Hop sound with some Gothic Rock and Trance music as well (think Skinny Puppy, only with a female singer).
Zer"space is Kidneythieves second full length album after
Trickster (and if you don"t count
Phi In The Sky, which was full of remakes from
Zer"space and their EP), in which the band took a supposedly temporary hiatus afterwards (with Free Dominquez going solo soon after the band"s breakup).
Free Dominquez, the vocalist, has a very unique voice that sounds very similar to Christina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil and Shirley Manson of Garbage. Bruce M. Somers, the instrumentalist, does every single instrument (except the cello and violin in
Serene Dream) on this album. Bruce plays the acoustic and electric guitar, the bass, and the drums. Overall, the music that Kidneythieves creates a very ambient and creates a since of inner space, or "zero space".
Zer"space
The first track,
Before I"m Dead (also seen in the movie Queen Of The Damned) kicks off this album with slow start, but quickly picks up into one of the best tracks on the album, also one of the few tracks that use electric guitars.
Zer"space is by far the best track, using mostly drum solos and short, quick guitar riffs, also contains the only explicit swearing on the track.
Arsenal is the next track and is very slow and mellow with industrial riffs and turntables, in which Free Dominquez does a whisper-like style of singing.
Molten and
Black Bullet are technically one track,
Molten being a 54 second intro to
Black Bullet.
Black Bullet is another one of the better songs on the album with a very lively beat and a lot of good guitar riffs. The next three tracks,
Dyskrasia,
Spank, and
Glitter Girl all song like trip-hop pop rock tracks, and which are fairly decent in sound and vocals, but are by far the weaker songs on the album.
Serene Dream, is the acoustic track, uses a lot of unique sample noises and a simple acoustic guitar riff and Free Dominquez"s beautiful voice.
Amnzer" is 2 minute filler track that is very similar to
Molten, with a weird, atmospheric sound and Free speaking her haunting words in the background. The last two tracks,
Crazy (remake of a Willie Nelson song) and
Placebo, are both extremely industrial tracks, in which
Placebo could be considered the conclusion of the CD, and having a sound very similar to
Arsenal and
Serene Dream. The last track,
Take A Train (Awakening), is a 13 minute long track with it"s first 11 minutes of pure silence before Free Dominquez starts talking in a very haunting, almost enchanting voice. What you hear after her short and sad story is some weird vocal work that eventually builds up into a very
The Lord Of The Rings haunting vocal style (think back to the elves and the music you"d hear when someone died in the film).
Pros
-- A lot of very unique Industrial and Rock music
-- Free Dominquez is a very talented vocalist
-- The atmosphere the album creates is very mystifying
Cons
-- The middle part was rather weak
-- Some of the lyrics are really WTF?
Track Listing:
1. Before I"m Dead (5/5)
2. Zer"space (5/5)
3. Arsenal (3/5)
4. Molten (1.5/5)
5. Black Bullet (4.5/5)
6. Dyskrasia (4/5)
7. Spank (2/5)
8. Glitter Girl (2.5/5)
9. Serene Dream (5/5)
10. Amnzer" (2/5)
11. Crazy (3.5/5)
12. Placebo (4.5/5)
13. Take A Train (Awakening) (3/5)
