ZERO HOUR will release a new EP, "No Man's Land", on October 16 through their own label, CynNormal Lab Recordings, on CD and digitally. The first song, "Codes Of Violence", is streaming now, and pre-orders are open through Bandcamp.
The track listing is worth reading carefully, because it explains what kind of release this actually is. Four tracks: "Codes Of Violence", "No Man's Land", and then instrumental versions of both. Two pieces of music, in other words — except each runs past thirteen minutes, so the "EP" tag is doing some very odd work. This is closer to a half-hour of new ZERO HOUR presented twice, once with vocals and once without.
Guitarist Jasun Tipton frames it as a showcase for the current lineup. "The guys and I are very, very excited for the listeners to hear 'No Man's Land'," he said. "Erik, Andreas, and Roel absolutely bring it on 'Codes Of Violence' and 'No Man's Land'. The two tracks each clock over thirteen minutes long. The material is very dynamic, heavy, and dreamy, with plenty of twists and turns. We added keyboardist Jeremy Villucci whose performance takes the material to another level."
That last addition is the structural news. ZERO HOUR built their reputation on guitar, bass and drums locking into intricate patterns with no keyboard layer to smooth the edges; Villucci is a genuine change to how the band is built. Original members Tipton and vocalist Erik Rosvold are joined by bassist Andreas Blomqvist and Villucci, with Roel van Helden credited as session drummer.
The EP was recorded by the band, with drums tracked by Kai Stahlenberg at Kohlekeller Studio. Matt LaPlant mixed and mastered at Madtown Mix Studio, and the cover is by Wayne Joyner, whose work has appeared for DREAM THEATER, AYREON and Devin Townsend.
"No Man's Land" track listing:
- Codes Of Violence
- No Man's Land
- Codes Of Violence (instrumental)
- No Man's Land (instrumental)
ZERO HOUR formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in the nineties around Jasun Tipton and his brother Troy, chasing something heavy, dark and intricate out of an unlikely set of reference points — the Dio-fronted years of RAINBOW, the PAT METHENY GROUP and DREAM THEATER. Six albums followed between 1998 and 2008: the self-released "Zero Hour" and "The Towers Of Avarice", then "Metamorphosis", "A Fragile Mind", "Specs Of Pictures Burnt Beyond" and "Dark Deceiver" for Sensory Records.
The band stopped after "Dark Deceiver", when an arm injury left Troy Tipton unable to play bass. Jasun and Rosvold eventually restarted it with van Helden, whom they had met years earlier when his band SUN CAGED and ZERO HOUR both supported LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. Van Helden in turn brought in Blomqvist, from his former band SEVENTH WONDER. That lineup made the 2022 comeback album "Agenda 21" for Frontiers Records.