Zombie Picnic - A Suburb of Earth

It’s been two weeks since I’ve done a review lately. Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up very soon, so it’s to do a review for some albums. This afternoon, I received a package in the mail of a band that just completely took me off the edge of my seat. It was this cross between Progressive, Post, Kraut, and Space Rock. A four-piece from Limerick, Ireland called Zombie Picnic.

They have released their debut album entitled, A Suburb of Earth. The band considers Brian Fitzgerald on Bass, James Griffin on Guitar, Dave Tobin on Guitar, and Brendan Miller on Drums. It is a journey to the infinite worlds inspired by the beat poets of the 1950s and the classic of science fiction who is known for his work on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke.

The music is very mysterious, cosmic, and exaggerating. I can hear the influences between The Fierce and The Dead, CAN, NEU!, Radiohead, Hawkwind, Mogwai, and Elephant9 with Reine Fiske. They know their influences well to the spot on here. The six-string textures of the duo between Griffin and Tobin, is the “Holy Shit!” momentum. It’s almost as if they are new captains along with Fitzgerald and Miller’s incredible rhythm section on both Bass and Drums.

I love how they would use reverb/delay effects of the tone setting of going into the outer limits of space, time, and poetry combined. It is a real treat for what the four-piece have brought. It feels as if you are in hyper-space with a blaring soundtrack inside your mind with four instrumental pieces that clock in 7, 8, 10, and 11-minutes. It was for me a real surprise.

Not just because it’s an awesome debut, but the way the four-piece have worked really hard and made sure note-by-note, space-by-space Zombie Picnic took some baby steps to create an outer space/milky way adventure. With creativity, cosmic, and thumping rhythmic adventures, A Suburb of Earth is the album I recommend. And to close out in the words of the episode, Space Madness from The Ren & Stimpy Show, “All right Space Cadets! Prepare to hurtle through the cosmos!”