Eternal Zio — Self Titled
The album is lo-fi and live, and feels like a bedroom improvisation with little post production. Eternal Zio's is not a passive or purely ambient drone, more a ritualistic gathering of power, with clear active elements amidst the long tones, such as scalar flourishes and noodling. Their primary instruments are strings, synthesizers, and melodica, with the occasional accompaniment of electric bass.
It's far from the most convincing/engaging channeling I have heard, unfortunately. The use of too many instruments with detuned and cheap sounding tones, such as a recorder in the second track, is a large part of this. These sounds are not pleasant on the ear, and they make the drones feel like shoddy contraptions rather than lush, enveloping currents. And isn't drone all about timbre?
Another issue is best exemplified by the cluster of drum patterns that emerges in the second half of the first (untitled) piece; there are several rhythms playing at once which have no clear relation to each other, and as it doesn't sound as if they layered these parts in electronically, I can't help but think there is a simple lack of rhythm on the part of those playing drums. Throughout the album, this rhythmic inaccuracy frequently distracts from the development of a hypnotic, evenly pulsing soundspace, especially obvious when the bass guitar joins the drums.
Their sound feels sonically and spacially thin, as well, like there is nothing to interpolate behind the shimmer. This lack of depth is a very negative quality in an ambient recording. Every track here could certainly benefit from the use of EQ, reverb, and additional layers of source material.
The only truly worthwhile track is the 6th and final untitled piece, longest on the album at 8 minutes. This piece has a drum machine, and thus a solid rhythmic center. The bassist sounds significantly less lost. Also notable is the fact that this track contains very few drone elements, instead the instruments shriek and moan in atonal wails, and the members of the band shout, scream and howl with feral abandon. There is some real passion and energy here, and I wish the band had recorded an entire album of fierce primitivism like this.
I wanted to like this album, as I appreciate aspects of the group's attitude, but it's hard to find much substance in it. I could only recommend it to those die hard fans of DIY and bedroom recordings who would not mind the detuned, cheap sounding instruments, sloppy playing, and lack of focus that plagues most of the tracks.