Zulu – A New Tomorrow

Zulu is a fast-rising black-power-violence band from Los Angeles. They cross genres in a flash but use hardcore (past, post and present) as their base flavor. You never know what is going to happen next while listening to this band. “A New Tomorrow”, their latest LP, comes out March, 3, 2023, on Baltimore’s baddest-ass record pusher: Flatspot Records. After the first two songs Africa and For Sista Humphrey, we still have not heard a word from vocalist Anaiah Lei and I still don’t know what direction, if any this album is going to lean. I do know I heard some sick NYC style hardcore done with that L.A. flavor morph into an industrial post-hardcore thing. Maybe all on a metal(ish) tip? WTF!? But in a good way.

I put on my Sony headphones for Our Day is Now, the 3rd track and it causes whiplash with a quickness. The BPMs go way up, but only momentarily as the songs exits with an old-school reggae-hall part. The dual vocals are all up the middle, everything else has great stereo separation. WTF is happening musically I can barley explain. Music to Drive by starts out as rough and tumble as you can get but then quickly fades into an R&B soul classic. This is definitely music to drive by, but in what car? My head is spinning by the time the 5th song lands: Where I’m From. If you haven’t seen the video for this song you are missing the fuck out. It is like The Eric Andre Show was overrun by Zulu and the studio was more than happy to oblige in their own special way. Oh and yes, Eric Andre is in the video. The song breaks into a Bad Brains beatdown breakdown part that just slays. The multiple guest vocals on this song are like a rap cypher done by death metal screamers on a Crown of Thornz track.

Fakin’_Tha_Funk_(You_Get_Did) is somewhat on that new hardcore tip for about 30 seconds. Then it just goes plain brutal with a ‘quiet’ breakdown. Then just in a flash it’s over. These guys get right to the point, stick it and then exit before you can hit em. I mean to be fair, the shit is so brutal you could only last for so long in the pit, so these tunes have to hit quick and then end. Shine Eternally does the opposite thing musically and starts out like a Barry White song, soulful and romantic. C’mon girl. Bring you your pretty green mohawk over here. It’s so hard. Your Mohawk, your mohawk is hard… Yea, sweet thing I smell that Aqua Net. There’s no lyrics but this is what I was dreaming while the track played. When is the brutality going to kick in like a nut punch? Clean chorus-laden guitars and a warm bass tone. The song never goes hard. It is purely a song to slow dance in the pit to with your boo. 

Must I Only Share My Pain starts out with piano and whirling keys with everyone asking that question. I’m not sure how to answer or what it is exactly I just heard. These guys are in my head and possibly over my head. Do as you wish Zulu, do as you wish. Lyfe Az A Shorty Shun B So Ruff is track 9, and I feel like this album is going by in a burning blaze. This song is very post-hardcore style to me and includes some of those drop bass booms. The vocals are just killing it, like in all the other songs on this record. And then comes the craziness with a part that sounds like Frankie Valli and maybe 3 seasons. And this song might be the most ‘normal’ of the bunch. From The Gods to Earth is fast. And then slow. Some dissident chords, some crunching chords. The bass guitar by Satchel Brown is just huge. The pianos play us out. I’m still confused in a wonderful and wondrous way. I feel like a toddler hearing music for the first time. Créme_de_Cassis is a narrative over piano. It’s pure black P.M.A. It’s beautiful, honest, invigorating, and insightful. And I will not dishonor it by saying anything more than you need to hear it for yourself.

Track 12 is More Than This. It starts light and jazzy albeit with a heavy drum sound courtesy Christine Cadette . Provocative rapping over clean guitars. A little harmony singing and scatting of course. It exits with a message that is something reminiscent of 1960s radio. Do they do this live? I can’t wait to find out here in Atlanta on February 13 at Terminal West! Unlucky track 13 is Fatal Strikes. It’s a pace changing monster of a song that will have pits erupting everywhere. Slayer-like leads by Dez Yusuf (guitar) & Braxton Marcellous (guitar) pop in to add to the intensity. The breakdown part at the end is just wooly mammoth huge with the drop bass booms again. The song morphs into Devine Intervention the 14th track.

Devine Intervention is an emotional outburst of modern hardcore with great socially relevant lyrics. The song twists and turns and is a joyride. The musicianship here is extraordinary. This is a tasty musical tale. Deep, dark, hypnotic and like the rest of this album over too soon. The album ends with Who Jah Bless No One Curse, another hardcore stomper that starts out at light speed but then uses some cool guitar chords upon the slowdown. Squealing guitar leads open it up a bit. Then another ballistic time change or two. It goes off-time for a part then morphs into an emo part that could have been off an early Smashing Pumpkins record or a late 80s indie album by a band from, oh let’s say Bremerton or Silverdale, Washington. The guitar solo is pure beauty also reminiscent of the before-stated. But just when you thought the “A New Tomorrow” would end ‘normally’ with this part, another Africa-inspired part fades back in to cap this all off. I think they are singing something like “we are the small ants to cut the big tree down”. I believe it and I’m glad to be here to witness it.

I have no idea what I just heard, it was a beautiful blur, a cacophony of catchy crustiness and cores. You can pre-order the 5-star genre-defying, hardcore bomb explosion album courtesy of Flatspot Records ahead of it’s release on March 3rd.