Album Review: Ceremony Zoo

Californian punkers Ceremony make their Matador Records debut with one of the best new punk albums released in the past few years – Zoo. The support of a larger record label has helped the band produce a relatively cleaner-sounding album than their previous album, Rohnert Park. Ceremony seem to have been listening to a lot of 1970s British punk during the making of this album – some of the tracks are reminiscent of a more modern Sex Pistols. The increased production values add to the music, making every instrument sound clearer and stand out more. High-energy album opener Hysteria starts the record off strongly, with the next few tracks continuing the trend.

Zoo is chock-full of songs that would have fit fine on Rohnert Park, but the band shines when they try new things, such as the slower-paced tracks. Slower album highlights such as the surf rock-esque Hotel, Nosebleed and closer Video are great – without them the album would be a lot duller. However, some of the other songs could have been quite a bit shorter – the monotonous and repetitive Quarantine could be cut in half.

While Ceremony are not incredibly original and do not break much new ground, what they do they do very well, making Zoo a great album to listen to from start to finish. If you dislike Ceremony, Zoo will not change your mind; however it is a great album to introduce someone to the band with. Definitely worth a look.