Ground Zero System - Newropa EP

Hailing from Norway comes the new dark industrial metal band, Ground Zero System. I've loved this genre of music since the early '90's and Ground Zero System does nothing but increase that love. Mixing death metal with tons of industrial elements, samples, and well-placed keys, this groove-laden band will have you begging for more than this 20 minute, 4-song EP. The band even gives us a little taste of some noise industrial at the beginning of "Parasite" before unleashing some torrid, rapid fire riffing. They also utilize some cool clean vocals that alternate with the death vocals during the chorus of "Semper Fi." And then in a good move, they go the rest of the album without using the clean vocals so as not to run them in the ground and turn this into some emo-industrial metal.

Production on this EP is very good, the packaging is nice but simple, and the lyrics had some good moments. However, they also suffer from the "let's all point the finger at the U.S. and blame them for the world's problems" disease that seems to be the trend over the last few years on the other side of the pond. But hey...it's called freedom of speech and I don't have to have to agree with their opinions to enjoy their music. They also drop f-bombs in three of the four songs for those who will only buy CD's if the majority of songs have their favorite dictionary word in them. 

Overall, this was nice surprise to receive in the mail. Ground Zero System has some great potential and could really be a force in this genre provided they stick around.

Rating: 85/100

Review By: Matt Morrow

Label: Independent

Total Songs: 4

Total Time: 19:42

Tracklisting: 1. Hatestate, 2. Semper Fi, 3. Parasite, 4. 3 Second Silence.

Best Songs: Tracks 1 & 2.

Band Lineup: Alf Magne Andersen - Vocals, Kristian Speich Eide - Guitars/Programming/Synths, Simen Høgdal Pedersen - Bass/Clean Vocals, Anders Faret Haave - Drums.

Band Website: http://www.groundzerosystem.com