Human Zoo - 2024 - Echoes Beyond

(46:02; Fastball Music)

Track list:
1. Gun 4 a While 3:20
2. In My Dreams 3:22
3. To the Ground 3:23
4. Ghost in Me 4:50
5. Daddy You're a Star 4:24
6. Hello! Hello! 3:19
7. Echo 3:48
8. Heartache 3:30
9. Forget About the Past 4:43
10. Waiting 'Til the Dawn 4:23
11. Ready 2 Rock 2:55
12. Forget About the Past [Acoustic] 4:05

Line-up:
Thomas Seeburger - vocals
Zarko Mestrovic - keyboards, vocals
Ingolf Engler - guitars
Boris Matakovic - saxophone
Ralf Grespan - bass, vocals
Matthias Amann - drums
with:
Chris Lausmann - guitars
Kresimir Mestrovic - guitars
Stefan Heinz - keyboards, effects


German band Human Zoo started out back in 2004 or thereabouts, and at the start of their career they appear to have been a fairly active band too with new material released at a steady pace during their first decade or thereabouts as a band. Since then the creative tempo has slowed down a bit, but the band remains an active one. Coming eight years after their previous album, "Echoes Beyond" is their most recent studio production, and was released through German label Fastball Music in the summer of 2024.

The music explored by this band is one that some may designate as heavy metal while others will describe this as a hard rock album. Where the age of the listener probably will have a role to play in terms of how to categorize the style presented to us here. Those of us that have been around on this planet for a while will have a greater propensity for making use of the metal categorization I'd suspect.

But no matter if you believe one or the other is the most proper description, what we get is tasteful and melodic music, where the electric guitars are combined with keyboards in some songs and the evergreen classic guitar and organ combination are explored on other occasions. In this case with the guitar as the clear and dominant instrument while the keyboard presence is a supportive one, and often subtle at that. Important and defining, but without a dominant presence. Even more defining for this band is the inclusion of the saxophone as a regular lead instrument, and this latter aspect is one of those details that may be a bit divisive. You will need to appreciate and enjoy the presence of the saxophone in order to enjoy this album, at least for me this comes across as something of a prerequisite.

Catchy and captivating songs is the strength of this band, with tight rockers with a strong and driving bassline being just as much a presence as tunes that revolve around a captivating and more pop-oriented chorus section, but we also get songs that in part or in full embrace a more delicate mood, mode and expression. For the latter in the form of ballads and one song given the full acoustic treatment in addition to being explored as a rock tune, but also with songs that get a defining gentle motif mixed in with a punchier rock or metal expression. The captivating and gentle motif that leads in to the excellent 'Ghost in Me' for instance, where this gentle motif gave me associations to the kind of material one might encounter from fellow German band Sylvan. The rest of this particular song is a good example of this band's run through landscapes that exist on the border between hard rock and heavy metal, and in a very good and captivating manner at that.

Otherwise we get lots of hair metal references, a form the band appear to enjoy flirting with, and with some songs with a tip or three of the hat in the direction of AOR too. And with one song that really gave me associations to Bon Jovi, and then in terms of how that band came across when they were still a young and lesser known entity. Many of the songs have a radio friendly character to them in general, and it's just too bad that Human Zoo weren't around in the 1980s as they would have been selling albums by the truckload back then.

Melodic metal tunes with pop music sensibilities, liberal amounts of inclusions from the classic era hard rock tradition, and a band that has a penchant for creating captivating guitar riffs and compelling guitar and keyboard combinations.  This is what Human Zoo has to offer now in 2024. As long as you enjoy the saxophone as a regular lead instrument, "Echoes Beyond" comes across as a tasteful and elegant run through landscapes that exist on the border between heavy metal, hair metal and AOR. A most solid album that should have a broad appeal among hard rock fans and those with a passion for the more melodic aspects of metal.

Olav M. Björnsen, June 2024

Links:
https://www.humanzoo-music.de/
http://www.fastball-music.de/