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I will admit that I went into this review with a little bit of trepidation. Any time an album is released from something termed a side project, one never really knows what to expect. It could turn out that the person really has a penchant for bubblegum pop, or perhaps Polish traditional songs. Fortunately, Zodiak does not disappoint in the least.

Featuring members of Rosetta, Lickgoldensky, Balboa and Javelina, Sermons is an excellent mash-up of all its members' respective bands. Apparently this recording was supposed to be the result of spontaneous jamming amongst the contributing members, but the results turned out a bit more structured in parts. I was half-expecting a space-rock jam album, but the result is so much more.

Sermons does feature a lot of repetitious, hypnotizing riffs that might have gotten chopped into simpler, easier-to-digest parts if the group had spent time pulling apart the tracks. It’s a good thing that they didn’t do that. Zodiak really sets up amazing atmospheres that could easily find their way onto serial killer movie soundtracks.

The biggest surprise for me was the presence of clean vocals on this recording. I went into this expecting the aural assault of Rosetta, but was pleasantly surprised to hear moving, emotive singing which really helps to set the tone and lends a Tool-like vibe to some of the tracks. Usually bands with two vocalists don’t work out, but in this case, both singers sit nicely in the mix and each vocalist plays off the strength of the other. Mike Armine of Rosetta is also in charge of the samples, which are perhaps the key to the overall atmosphere.

Overall, Zodiak is moving, atmospheric music that would make a very surreal backdrop to the tales of your favorite killing spree.

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Reviewer: Dave Warren Added: April 16th 2008