Whores Of Holyrood is the latest album from Washintgon DC based Gothic space rockers Zabus, who are the solo project of Jeremy Moore who used to be in Gorazde and Zero Swann. He recorded the album at SV studios with Andy Baldwin Engineering. I may review this like it is a concept album about the Scottish parliament, even if that's far from the case.
The album opens with Zabus at the wrong end of the golden mile lurking with a Shadow Genesis slowly strumming an acoustic guitar in an echo chamber, slowly deeply emoting their message while watching for the sun.
Burn To Your Own Destruction has reverb heavy guitars with slow drums and distinctly dark hewn, vocals having its neck snapped, the fear is taking over them, sounding like early Bauhaus bootlegs burning brightly in the gloom.
Whores Of Holyrood is probably not about any disgraced Scottish politicians, but would be fantastic if it was, they are selling their wares on the golden mile once more, in slow deliberate goth ways.
A-Ya Bullet V is rather too slow to be about a bullet train, this keeps the demo almost bootleg feel to the sound but with extra ambience.
Cremation Psalm is dark doom-laden sounds to slip into that eternal flame too, seeking your own divine truth, while you turn to ashes in the wind, while trying to summon the lizard king.
Sod Martyr opens like an early Spacemen 3 demo but is far slower more like Nero Kane ruminating on how you can be in the earth, martyred to your cause like a latter-day Alex Salmond.
Strangers Of Non-Being are those Scots nationalists, who still want to be part of the union, confronting their mixed emotions, like a slow-moving design for power free from English influence, yet still part of the UK. They try to deal with the stench of control from the southern lords.
A Multitude Of Cruelties appears to take us back to the days of the Provost Blair, bricking up the underground city with all who were in it to stop the spread of plague, how does anyone emerge from such tragedy with a sense of self intact.
Zaum has the most distinct drum beat on the album as more death and destruction unfold, not even Greyfriars Bobby can save you now, you will be among the forsaken for you crave victory too hard.
Bone Record they are still trying to identify the remains they found in an un-named tomb deep beneath Holyrood, are they martyred souls or just plague victims, dissonant guitars wail away at the injustice of these unmarked graves, who can ever take their place.
Let's Pretend Its Freedom is endless devotion to the idea that giving Scotland its own devolved parliament at Holyrood, was really giving them freedom from the English yoke, as if Tony Blair would ever really give away any power, slowly the meandering guitar realizes just how they've been had again. This is an elegy for that deceit.
The album closes with Where The Worm Never Dies dep beneath the soil munching on the corpses, lilies and remains, stings wriggle slowly looking for a way to the surface.
Find out more at https://zabus.bandcamp.com/album/whores-of-holyrood
