| · Hero worship.
I have always found Beta Band albums to be inconsistent and scattered affairs. Don’t get me wrong, every record contained remarkable standouts, but as time wore on and the discs lingered in my collection, I found myself skipping the multi-layered experimental tracks to get to the melodic gems. Not to mention the band’s fondness for Druid rituals and Dr. Who costumes – I guess, I just didn’t get it.
The self-produced Heroes To Zeros is probably the closest you’ll ever get to hearing a Beta Band rock album. The third full-length release from the post-folk heroes is guitar heavy with funky infectious beats. They haven’t abandoned their psychedelic sampling and pagan mysticism (devoting two of the 12 songs to space travel). But for the most part, the band seems to have set their sights on a more global approach.
The album’s first single "Assessment," is a powerful song criticizing British Prime Minister Tony Blair and much of the album deals with current political issues such as terrorism, imperialism and war. Is this a well thought-out plan by the Beta Band for world domination? Perhaps. But more importantly, the album flows like the Milky Way and ends up being a highly listenable (and danceable) achievement. And from the looks of the cartoonish cover art, The Beta Band are ready to take the skeptics by force.
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