KING ZEBRA
“Between The Shadows”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

King Zebra are a hard rock band from Switzerland formed in 2012, releasing their debut album ‘Greatest Hits’ in 2013, with sophomore album ‘Wild! Wild! Wild!’ a 2015 release. The band have undergone some line-up changes over years, toured with bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Uriah Heep, and Rose Tattoo, releasing the bands third album ‘Survivors’ in 2021. And rocking harder than ever before, King Zebra are back with fourth album ‘Between The Shadows’…

…released in 2024 featuring ten heavy hitting anthems across a heavier hitting thirty six minutes! The Swiss five-piece are in scintillating form, raising the roof with one hell of a party atmosphere – every song on offer rocking harder than a weeble in high winds! The bands new album storms into life with the heavy hitting ‘Starlight’, King Zebra pounding the ground with a tremendous amount of energy! The infectious party feel rising from ‘Starlight’ is phenomenal, every listener smiling from ear to ear as the band deliver a bombastic opener to turn the heads of everyone in the direction of the Swiss rockers!

Rockers that are bordering on metal territory as ‘Between The Shadows’ romps on with the electrically charged ‘Children Of The Night’ echoing the iconic “heavy metal gallop”. I tell ya readers, if this was the early eighties King Zebra would be labelled as a metal band, for back in the day nearly every band was metal – even the likes of Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Kiss! How times have changed eh! But not for me, I’m eighties metal and rock to the bone, so it’s fucking great the Zurich five-piece are hitting so hard – the harder the better as far as I’m concerned! And maintaining the albums incredibly heavy start, ‘Wicked’ is meaner than the opening brace, the band delivering a bombastic sound that deserves to be heard in the biggest stadiums around the world! Is there a bigger rock sound than stadium rock! Arena rock maybe – but then aren’t they the same! Either way, King Zebra are delivering a harder brand of rock than marble, granite or even diamond – ‘Dina’ continuing the bands stunning hard rock swagger! The band are oozing energy in abundance, with all the worlds energy meters recording levels much higher than ever seen before! Or should that be felt? ‘Cause energy is felt and not seen, and in the case of King Zebra – I can see the band, and feel ’em too!

Every song on offer clocks in at under four minutes in length, paving the way for a quick moving, hard rocking album – an album that storms on with ‘Love Lies’. The fastest song heard so far, ‘Love Lies’ actually plants one foot firmly on the heavy metal monitor, adopting the classic and immensely iconic pose of traditional metal! I tell ya this for nothing, metallers and rockers are both gonna love ‘Between The Shadows’, King Zebra delivering a red hot album that’s gonna fly off the shelves and be on everyone’s playlists for a very long time to come! There’s just no escaping the bands relentless and fairly breathless approach, I’m having real difficulty typing quick enough to keep up! But I ain’t gonna ask King Zebra to slow down, hell no – keep it up guys, keep it up! And keep it up they do – ‘Cyanide’ entering the fray with more energy, pace and pizzazz than any other song heard so far. And the infectious level too has just shot through the fucking roof, the anthemic party feel greater than ever! I reckon if you’re gonna listen to this album in your car while driving, you better keep a close eye on your speed – for the energy driving ‘Between The Shadows’ is overwhelming, and may just act as a second foot on the accelerator pedal! And bringing a little AOR to the fore, ‘With You Forever’ melds together a variety of rock styles, including just the slightest hint of mid-eighties Alice Cooper! Yes readers, Alice Cooper, and more specifically, his 1986 album ‘Constrictor’.

And with a title suggesting an impending ballad, ‘Love Me Tonight’ is nowhere near ballad territory, maintaining the albums emphatic hard rock nature – not so much a freak of nature, King Zebra are a fucking force of nature! The bands fourth album is a terrific tour de force, billowing with more magnetism than a Neodymium Magnet! Recognised as the worlds strongest magnet, Neodymium Magnets appear weak when King Zebra are around – ‘Out In The Wild’ thundering in and roaring off at full throttle! The band are at their melodious best here, delivering elegance and majesty with total aplomb, the already sky high energy level rocketing even higher! There’s just no limits strong enough to rein the band in, the Swiss outfit breaking new ground with regards to emphatic hard rock – are we listening to this years Rock Album Of The Year! Quite possibly so, ’cause as far as I’m concerned, there’s only been two rock albums released this year worthy of the title – this one, and the debut album from Swedish sensations The Gems. Who’s your money on? ‘Restless Revolution’ brings ‘Between The Shadows’ to a close with a mighty Southern rock swagger, the band striding tall and very proud across the land – land which is solely made up of hard rock, King Zebra living and breathing the whole party rock ethos!

Overall, heavy hitting, energy driven hard rock from a band on fucking fire, King Zebra deliver an immensely infectious album.

TRACKLIST

Starlight
Children Of The Night
Wicked
Dina
Love Lies
Cyanide
With You Forever
Love Me Tonight
Out In The Wild
Restless Revolution

http://www.kingzebra.ch/
https://www.facebook.com/KINGZEBRA.band/

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