We throw satellites into space only to forget about them and let them rust. ASMZ are commenting on the futility of our race for technology, and the waste and disenfranchisement that it leaves careening in its all-consuming wake. The entire concept of the album is metaphorical this is rusted satellites gathering together to sing punk rock, songs against the establishment that created them. Unfortunately, I can't find a review anywhere that has really parsed out the meaning behind the title of this record. This is most assuredly a concept album, and one with a political agenda. Unfortunately, we have to look back at the record itself to understand where his voice fits in to the mix. The common complaint, it seems, is the tonal quality of leader Efrim Menuck's (Gasp! A last name!) voice. The rest of the album bends and swirls in much the same way, with elements added and deleted almost seamlessly as the record wends its way though to its conclusion. Something about the tone and rhythm of that section really strikes a chord with me. The vocals done in the first third of this track are, for me, one of the highlights of the entire album. In typical post-rock fashion, new elements are introduced in a rounding fashion, including voices and the "complete amateur choir" ASMZ assembled for this record. Guitars then drift ever so slowly in, rounding around a few central themes. The opening track, perhaps my favorite on the album opens hushed, with what sounds like a dance instructor repeating eight-counts. The history, philosophy, and politics of this nebulous group of Canadians are well-known, so one can focus on this album as a singularity of their work. If no other descriptor fits the entirety of their discography, it is brilliant. At times it is chaotic and tumultuous, at others a single melody drifts through the speakers. It is simultaneously beautiful and haunting mesmerizing and disturbing gleeful and despondent. Zion is like trying to summarize a cubist painting. Trying to lay a hand on describing the music created by Canadians Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt.
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