Artist: Human Zoo
Label: Fastball Music
Released: 2011
Length: 53:04
Rating: 4/5
Human Zoo are German melodic hard rockers from Balingen. “Eyes Of A Stranger” is their third studio album and the follow-up to 2007’s “Ove The Horizon”. Even though the band is relatively young, it brings together seasoned musicians who cut their teeth in other bands first, picking up valuable experience and plenty of mileage along the way.
The sextet has one distinctive quirk: an alto sax in the ranks, and that gives the band a touch of recognizability. Because, given that they build on the legacy of German hard rock bands like Bonfire, Frontline and Jaded Heart, it would be naive to expect or even demand a musical revolution in songwriting from Human Zoo.
The band cultivates a modern musical groove on the melodic rock template, one that’s thriving especially in Scandinavia these days, as the anthemic melodic hooks hint, especially in the choruses, along with the care for melodic cleanness, focus and conciseness, which of course flirts with an AOR vibe across the album. Human Zoo have a great bombastic production. This time they brought on the experienced Chris Lausmann (ex-Frontline, ex-Bonfire), who kept all the bombast of the previous production and took it a notch deeper, compared to the band’s somewhat rawer previous album. In the sound, all the building blocks of Human Zoo’s music are clearly up front, with an authoritative, dominant clean, melodic vocal dead center, successfully standing its ground across all sorts of vocal ranges. On top of an otherwise clean voice, there’s the occasional pinch of grit, which does wonders for the overall hard rock feel of the album.
There are plenty of sax solos, and it’s incredible how compatibly and harmoniously the sax addition works in the songs across the album. The keyboards are clearly in the mix and pump up the bombast in the atmosphere, the bass is plainly audible, and of course what remains specific to German hard rock production is the riffing pushed a bit further back, which instantly gives away the Germanic roots of Human Zoo.
Over four years the guys had loads of time to take care of every detail, dress it up and polish it down to the last bit of seasoning in the arrangements. The vocals are supple and smooth enough in the English of the verses. “Eyes Of A Stranger” is, in terms of expressive polish, a clear step up for the band, and with it Human Zoo successfully cement their expressive, sonic groove, which they could cling to even more firmly on future albums. In the arrangements the songs are considerably stronger and more convincing compared to its otherwise quality predecessor “Over The Horizon”.
There are a few melodic anthems like In The Top and the closer 10.000 Years Ago, which sound modern and catchy in the style of glam revival bands like H.E.A.T., The Poodles and Fatal Smile. The punchy half-ballad Everything Changes is wonderfully put together, but in its rhythmic underpinning and the way the chords are picked in the verse, it doesn’t hide its classic Def Leppard stamp! There’s hardly any need to mention the Leppard reference here, since pretty much every new and newer melodic hard rock band still borrows from it today. Next, The Answer’s main riff nods venomously to the Gotthard classic Anytime Anywhere; otherwise there’s no direct flirting with Gotthard across the album, but Human Zoo is also the title of one of the Gotthard albums, so in that respect it’s safe to assume Gottahrd are among Human Zoo’s role models. The songs on the album are varied enough that there’s no danger of that feeling that Human Zoo are recycling themselves. They also hit an equally high level of arranging, so you’ll have to find your personal favorites on your own, since there are no swings in quality between the songs.
“Eyes Of A Stranger” is a very good new studio album from Human Zoo. It’ll please all fans of melodic Scandi rock revival, as well as the classic legacy of German melodic rock bands. The record might even appeal to those of you who know the later work of bands like Edguy. A very high-quality product naturally doesn’t carry the mark of a groundbreaking musical vision. In that respect you do feel the use of some standard rock clichés, but with the scene this massively saturated with bands, it’s practically impossible to avoid that these days. With their third album Human Zoo managed to define the foundation of a musical direction they’ll deepen over the next decade, so it’ll be exciting to follow how they build on it in the future.
Line-up
Thomas Seeburger – vocals
Ingolf Engler – guitar
Zarko Mestrovic – keyboards
Boris Matakovic – saxophone
Markus Ratheiser – bass
Kevin Klimesch – drums
Production
Chris Lausmann & Zarko Mestrovic
Track list
01. Amy & Allison’s Memories
02. The Answer
03. Gimme Your Time
04. To The Top
05. Everything Changes
06. Eyes Of The Stranger
07. Fall In Love
08. World Behind You
09. Hold & Care
10. Want It – Love It – Like It
11. Welcome To Paradise
12. 10.000 Years Ago
