CD Reviews

Ceremony | Zoo

Matador (2012)

By GARRETT MARTIN | March 13, 2012

3.0 Stars

Wire's Chairs Missing might very well be the best rock album of all time. It's definitely one of the most influential, foreshadowing a half-dozen or so subgenres of indie rock in just under an hour. When critics say that Zoo, the new album from the all-grown-up ex-hardcore band Ceremony, sounds like Wire, they're probably talking about the Wire of 1978, and particularly songs like "Sand in My Joints" and "Too Late," which unite noise, repetition, and punk energy in artistic bursts of conceptual attitude. Ceremony aren't as intellectual or dryly hilarious as Wire and don't attempt a comparable stylistic variety, but the raucous Zoo is a fine tribute to Wire's heavier side, alternating between powerful, lumbering riffs and manic splatters of guitar noise. The acerbic lyrics to "Ordinary People" and "Community Service" might be a little too safe or obvious, like a Country Teasers song that's pulling its punches, but it's unusual for something so condescending and sarcastic to get released on a major indie-rock label these days. There's been a shortage of intentional assholes in indie rock lately, and Ceremony are absolutely willing to fill that gap.

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CEREMONY | ZOO | March 13, 2012
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