Zebedy - Waiting For The Tide

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: CD/Tape/Digital

Release Date: 03 Feb 2023

Tracklist:

1. Well Being

2. Building Sandcastles

3. This City Is Ours

4. Thrive

5. Bloom

6. My Name Is Forever

7. Forget All That You Know

8. Revelations

9. Mask The Sky

10. Set The Pace

11. We Collide

The UK has always been blessed with an abundance of progressive rock/metal bands. In modern times, bands like Sikth, Tesseract, Karnivool and many more have proven how productive our island nation can be. Welsh quartet Zebedy are a newer addition to our ever-growing progressive community and one of the only bands of their ilk I know that call Conwy home (an area I know well, having lived in sunny Rhyl during my teenage years). Their latest (and third) album Waiting For The Tide was released in early February and was even produced by Sikth's Dan Weller. They've shared stages with Soil, InMe, Raging Speedhorn and many others too.

I’m full of positivity right now and jumping into an album from another UK band with such promise only adds to that feeling. Zebedy is a new name to me but I’m excited (unlike a certain mainstream radio DJ, whose a twat). Album opener ‘Well being’ is a song of two halves, featuring more traditional instrumental prog and electronic textures later on. Definitely a creative song to start with but something tells me there’s more to come and on ‘Building Sandcastles’ that statement rings true as Zebedy springs forth with great melodic vocals and intelligent musicianship. I can’t believe I haven’t come across them before.

The sound and clarity of the album strikes you straight away, no doubt in part thanks to Dan Weller’s touch during the production phase. ‘This City Is Ours’ immediately brings to mind bands like Hell Is For Heroes and Cars As Weapons, being filled with super-catchy vocal hooks and a gritty heaviness that’s not gonna scare the masses away. ‘Thrive’ follows and it’s a really well performed instrumental interlude of sorts, with an all-encompassing approach that sounds so warm.

The pause on the recording between ‘Thrive’ and ‘Bloom’ feels like it shouldn’t really be there and kinda spoils the momentum somewhat but that’s only a small gripe, as ‘Bloom’ is brilliant when it gets going. One of the album’s heaviest songs so far, which is great if you yearn for the heavy stuff. ‘My Name Is Forever’ takes Zebedy’s sound back in a lighter and brighter direction again with excellent crooning and intensity that resides amongst similarly vibrant song-writing. So good!

Before you know you’re deep into ‘Forget All That You Know’ and over half way through Waiting For The Tide. It’s here that I’m getting Cave In vibes somehow but that’s enough with the comparisons for now. Let’s just appreciate what’s flying out of the speakers. There’s real angst coming to the surface during ‘Revelations’ and the off-kilter time signatures (as well as my neighbour dropping something heavy on the floor above me) are able to induce a brief bout of anxiety, at least for a few seconds anyway. The song’s latter half is gloriously delivered with soothing harmonies amongst the crunching guitars and percussion.

‘Mask The Sky’ grooves like nothing else on this album, providing something that will induce rabid moshing in a live setting while also pleasing those that like their music served with a heavy dose of math. It’s an epic instrumental, showing how versatile Zebedy can be. ’Set The Pace’ initially sounds like a pop-punk song (All Killer No Filler era Sum 41 anyone?) but it isn’t long before Zebedy retreat into more familiar territory and prog it up. I’m getting subtle Fleetwood Mac feels from the vocal delivery for some reason. Are you?

’Set The Pace’ was the album’s penultimate song and it leads directly into ‘We Collide’, which is it’s longest. As much as Zebedy are a prog-rock/metal band, they’re also connected to indie and melodic rock too. ‘We Collide’ gathers up all of their musical influences, wrapping them up into a song that epitomises just how good they are. The UK needs bands like Zebedy and the rest of the world needs to know that progressive music can only progress because of the UK. I’m not one of those nationalists so don’t worry. I just like to champion bands from these shores when I get the chance.

You can stream and purchase Waiting For The Tide on all formats mentioned above via Zebedy's bandcamp page below:-

Zebedy - https://www.facebook.com/zebedymusic