Full of power-pop hooks and three part harmonies, the debut album for the Toronto four piece known simply as Zeus, is one of the better debut records to be released in quite some time. It simply doesn’t sound like a first release with these guys constantly changing it up both in pace, style and vocals. Zeus features three vocalists/songwriters, Mike O’Brien, Carlin Nicholson, and Neil Quin, who swap between guitar, bass and organ, with Rob Drake holding down the rhythm on drums. Most of the songs are about three minutes long but have the unique craftsmanship and change-ups you’d expect from a four or five minute ballad.

Harsher critics might write the band off as a band doing their best impression of Electric Light Orchestra doing their best impression of latter day Beatles. I wouldn’t go that far but it’s quite obvious these fellas have a few late 60′s/early 70′s albums lying around the house. Their style is a mix of psychedelic/classic rock, British jangle and “a touch of twang.” With lightning powered pop songs like these, we are looking forward to a cloud-free future for these guys. You can listen to 30 second snippets of the entire album here or try to catch them on the latter half of Broken Social Scene’s North American Tour here.

Below are a few standout tunes.

Check out the band recording their newest song “Waste My Time’. Upcoming tour with Blitzen Trapper, anyone?

My Twitter profile

Matt

Matt is one of the founding members of Merchants of Rock, and an all around good guy. He spends his days as an Art Director at The Meridian Group, a fancy schmancy group of ad wizards, and his nights as a featured writer for MOR

Related posts:

Delta Spirit – History From Below Album Review Jackie Greene – Till The Light Comes Album Review Cults Album Review Matt Pond PA – The Dark Leaves Review