There is music to rock to, music to dance to, and even music to smash your face into. Perhaps you can make the case all music can fit into these categories (okay, maybe add “music to cry to”) but since first hearing the potent call of Zombi almost 20 years ago I’m forced to create another category: music to escape to. And with Direct Inject the duo have once again threaded together their ever expanding musical proclivities into something that transports the listener through time and space. In other words, this one goes forwards and backwards, up and down, and left and right. It’s Wonka’s Great Synth Elevator, and when it gets high enough you can the see world below and the stars above.

Let’s melt away.

The genesis of the band should be readily apparently for fans of horror. Named after Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead (or Zombi in Italian) and hailing from Romero’s stomping ground of Pittsburgh, there is at the core of duo Steve Moore (bass, guitar, keys, sax) and AE Paterra (drums and keys) the cinematic synth rock of that film’s score composers, the Italian progressive rock outfit Goblin. That’s a solid enough foundation, but since their 2004 debut Cosmos the pair have continuously pushed past overt homage into something that reaches tendril-like into other genres and styles, slowly gathering and ingesting sonic ideas that unfurl into new shapes, whether it’s the more classical and ethereal jazz fusion of 2009’s Spirit Animal or the 80s Rush-inspired vibes on 2015’s Shape Shift. After 2022’s incredibly delightful and on-point cover album Zombi and Friends, Volume 1 (seriously, check out that cover of “Takin’ It to the Streets” and tell me you didn’t jump up and dance like a fiend) the sky felt completely open for Zombi to move in any direction they chose to investigate.

The answers lies somewhat in the genesis of the album itself. After a canceled European tour due to a COVID resurgence, the band regrouped in Pennsylvania and began jamming. Those largely improvisational jam pieces formed the bones of Direct Inject. Following a tour with OM, the band took those jams and built out what to these ears feels like a summation of the past while firmly looking to the future. The opening title track hearkens back to classic synth rock moments from Surface to Air (my personal introduction to the band’s music) while songs like “So Mote it Be” and the ominous crush of “The Post-Atomic Horror” bring more of the heavy rock sound to the fore. The bass sound is so heavy it threatens to shift tectonic plates, and having it ground the pads and synths that float above create this incredible sense of space, letting every kick, snare, and cymbal hit directly into your auditory cortex.

When the band opts for a more cinematic approach, you can picture the scenes writ large directly behind your eyelids: “Kamichi & Sandy” conjures third act realizations and denouements on both the rain lit streets of an inner city just as much as a desert plain on a planet with two suns, though John Williams this most assuredly is not. Two tracks, “Sessuale II’ and “Sessuale I” trace back literal decades in their origins, and the sweet smooth sax leads and clean, tight guitar R&B funk strumming on “Sessuale II” could fit alongside a Billy Ocean led soundtrack from the 80s just as much as it could be from a distant independent film coming out in 2032.

It’s simple to say with Direct Inject Zombie again fulfill their promise to never cater to any crowd – though I’m glad they’re so accepted in the metal world I’ve never felt their music came was born from it. Instead this music and this album live in the far reaches of interstellar space and the sweaty basements and jam rooms where people just sonically connect with little regard for the name of the thing. I hear the explorations of bands like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk as much as I do Goblin or newer horizon seeking bands like the aforementioned OM or more rock-led outfits like Dysrhythmia.

In the end, I hear Zombi, and that’s a very good thing indeed.

-Chris

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Direct Inject is available now from Relapse Records. For more information on Zombi, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.