Great review and here's the link
http://www.metal-discovery.com/Live/...aturdaypt2.htm
ZERO HOUR
www.zerohourweb.com
Penultimate band of the day are Pleasanton's Zero Hour with their unique style of technical prog metal. My first experience of this band was at last year's Headway festival, and I recall being blown away by their performance and general high level of musicianship. With a large crowd already gathered in anticipation of the American metallers' appearance, the curtains are pulled back to reveal a refreshingly well lit stage for the first time on this second day of ProgPower - it appears the lighting guy has eventually woken up! With the loudest sound through the PA so far today, it is apposite for conveying the technical heaviness of Zero Hour's music. The Tipton twins, Jasun and Troy, orchestrate bursts of cacophonic intensity in wild displays of fretboard virtuosity with scalar progressions that defy belief - 'virtuoso' is a term all too often bandied around by journalists unjustifiably, although the Tiptons are indubitably masters of their respective instruments on a level above the majority of their peers. It is even more astonishing that bassist Troy is in a degree of pain as he plays due to an ongoing tendonitis condition for which surgery is imminent (which is why the band cancelled their forthcoming appearance at ProgPower Scandinavia at the end of this month). Chris Salinas, now with a drastically different hair-do since seeing Zero Hour last year, also impresses me with his vocal abilities; the high-end of his voice reminiscent of both King Diamond and Watchtower's Alan Tecchio. I remember commenting in my review of the band last year that Salinas' vocals are perhaps a little displaced and unfitting for some of the more cacophonic passages of music, although I don't find this to be the case today; rather the contrary, it lends Zero Hour's songs an original edge over many other technical prog metal bands. Overall, an incredibly powerful performance that receives vociferous crowd reactions from the large number of people in the Sjiwa who are evidently equally as impressed as myself. And all of our best wishes and hopes here at Metal Discovery go out to Troy for successful surgery and a full recovery.
October 30th, 2008, 01:59 PM
