Zoetrope
Amnesty

The Zoetrope from Chicago, born in the '70s, are a truly likeable band. It's hard to find in the '80s thrash scene such a straightforward gang, musically sincere, and so friendly towards their fans that they declare the musical genre they play on their album covers: hardcore street metal.

They absolutely do not want to create problems for music critics, provoke a neuralgic headache in scribes trying to label them as crossover, speed metal, or heavy/thrash. A mix of terms that makes the poor kid who exits the used vinyl store stagger, a bit like what happens to the tightrope walker in "Otherwise We'll Get Angry" who ends up in the arms of Terence Hill. In reality, Zoetrope plays a sort of wild thrash, terribly self-produced, but played with a lot of roughness, with some speedy parts and others more hard rock. Hearing the deafening rumble coming from the grooves, it seems impossible to admit them. "Amnesty", originally released in 1985, was reissued in 2000 by Century Media with the addition of two demo tapes released in 1983 and 1985. Let's be clear, the demos are not at all a gem for enthusiasts, given the awful recording quality, but on the first songs the sound seems clearer and more refined compared to the platter (!). The opener "Indecent Obsessions" starts with the chatter of gangsters (I presume) as a Sabbath-like riff leads into the indecent obsessions of a sex maniac:

"Through your window, two big eyes watch you and your slut while you screw/Think, looking at them, if one can be afraid of death/His fantasies cannot be controlled, he's a voyeur, his path has been this all his life...."

The speed airship speeds away with a springy step a la James Cagney, but not frenetic, and the sound is wrinkled, pressurized, as if coming out of an air gun, heavy metal shot from the lathe, from the grindstone, refined with sandpaper. And here lies its charm: the album should be thrown away, and one should put "Bonded By Blood" on the turntable, yet the atypical and coarse voice of Barry Stern (R.I.P), combined with his sparse but effective drumming, and the sharp yet evocative guitars, create a sonic pajama to wear around the house while making coffee at 9 on a Saturday morning. The case is complex: thrash to relegate among the cactus bands or substantial crossover metal to be canonized as a '80s enigma, shamefully forgotten by the most hardened defenders? The truth is in the middle.

The album is not a monument but contains three masterpiece songs, and six other senile ladies-in-waiting, to be invited to the dance when we are at the dry fruit stage. The secret of the charm also lies in the interaction of the two axes Kevin Michael and Ken Black, who duet with each other with devastating yet well-structured solos, howling yet perfectly synchronized, while the rhythm guitars seem to be just motor pumps used to sprinkle the vineyards with verdigris, an alibi kept intact by the title track "Amnesty":

"We want amnesty/From what is believed/Beyond and above the law/But it is not what is just a first example/The way things are managed/Goes in the wrong direction/No good for anyone..."

It's the fiercest and fastest song on the album (with a beginning that reeks of Motorhead's "Leaving Here"), a tremendous ride with loose reins, up to the catharsis in two dirty and dizzying solos, certainly a point of reflection for improvement with the next album, thinking of the Kreator of "Endless Pain" or the Exciter of "Heavy Metal Maniac", other releases full of charm precisely for their spontaneity and raw recording. The third heavy tile is the legendary, hard, reflective, spasmodic, ingenious, spontaneous sound shard that is "A Member In A Gang", a bit like their "Dancing Days", equipped with such a memorable riff (copied or not, it doesn't matter) that it never leaves your head, but lodges there with perseverance. And we chew it in moments of reflection, in the moments when we are a step away from the secco terno, or maybe when the traffic light immediately turns green amid the traffic, or the car in front of us turns right without us slowing down, we overtake and no one comes in the opposite direction, in short, the hard rock riff is a godsend, tasty like Vicenza-style cod, always well pounded before cooking, a bit like the sound of these little songs: just don't overdo it or it stays on your stomach. The rest of the album unfolds into fast pieces that make for an unworthy crown to these three bombshells, perhaps with the exception of "Another Change" which seems quite inspired in the streetwise and gutsy riff.

With the next LP "A Life Of Crime", Zoetrope will churn out their masterpiece, thanks also to the entry of guitarist Louie Svitek and the excellent production of Randy Burns. This album is just a taste to delve into the world of crime, into the planet of virulent and crude thrash that never ceases to fascinate in some tracks, but also to irritate in others less inspired. A fun closing note: bassist Calvin Humphrey is nicknamed "Willis". He truly seems the twin of little Arnold's big brother.