We’ve all been there, right? Waiting on others to do something for so long, you just snap and go: “sod it, I am doing it anyway”. Or put it another way, we’ve all got that mate who you know is going to let you down at the last minute?
What are you going to do? Sit and mope. No! Well, at least not if you’re Steve Zing. What you do, is you form a band with your mate and make your own damn record.
Oh and you rope a shedload of a-listers in.
See, you might not have heard of Steve Zing, but you probably have heard of The Misfits (I’ve never seen a gig like it – on stage for an hour and played about 32 songs) and you might have heard of Samhain? Well yer man is the bassist in the former and was the drummer in the latter. He was a mate of Glenn Danzig from childhood (Danzig drew the logo), and Blak29 is a collaboration between him and his friend Dan Tracy.
Why? Well, as he puts it: frustration. Bored of waiting for others, they decided to write tunes themselves. The results are in. And on “The Waiting”, the results are a resounding victory.
It’s clear from the opening riff of “Blackout” what we’re dealing with here. This is rock n roll. Pure (well, not pure, it sounds filthy) and simple. This is what The Cult should sound like instead of Astbury moaning on stage, this is Zodiac Mindwarp. It’s chunky, greasy and when the lead guitar kicks in, the world makes sense.
It’s all this good – indeed, some of it is better – but “Destroyer” is a weird one. Johnny Kelly (Type O Negative, Jyrki 69 and Tommy “Prong” Victor are all over this and given that it takes The Kinks “All Day And All Of The Night” as its bass, it makes for fun.
“Waiting For The Sun To Go Down” is shining, hulking arena rock, chugging, bombast, the whole thing, and frankly if you can’t enjoy the anthemic “Go Go Little One”, there’s no hope. Bursting to get going like it’s 14, just found a stash of porn and its mum has gone to the shops. Its everything this should be – and more besides.
Pretty much everywhere you look there’s some fun to be had. The thunderous bass of “End Of Days”, “Of Love Of Hate Of Pain” is essentially the same as song as “…..Little One” but if the band have a sound on its debut record then good luck to them, and lets be totally honest about this, “Bleeding Love” might as well be a Cult song (the good sort, not the rubbish off that album they stuck out last year…..).
The de-facto title track “The Waiting (A Token Of Your Death)” is built on Zing’s drums, and it swirls and broods menacingly, and it could be argued that “Don’t Mind The Pain” is similarly built on drums, except it sounds like it’s going to a strip club with the Hells Angels.
“I Am Screaming But Nobody’s Here” is an abrupt turn, acoustics come out and there’s something of the whiff of illegal substance in the air, but it doesn’t last too long as Mr 69 (the singer in 69 Eyes when he’s not moonlighting) is back for the incredible “Long Cool Woman”. After uttering the bizarre “you know I could tell she had blood under her fingernails by the way she kissed” we’re off and running on something best described as Grand Funk Railroad rebooted for the BDSM club. It’s astonishingly catchy.
Likewise the whole of “The Waiting” is astonishingly good. It oozes something glorious, and there needs to be a follow up.
I’ve resisted this line long enough. It’s a real zinger.
Rating 9.5/10
