Review Summary: "The darkest hour of the night comes just before the crack of dawn".
Italian natives, Zippo, are a relatively new band, hailing since the mid 00s on the metal music scene. Bringing to the table a mix of sludge, progressive, stoner and post-metal, they manage to successfully blend them together, creating a really interesting (at the very least) and almost unique record,
Maktub. Think of the result as a mixture between Intronaut and earlier Mastodon like intricate riffing with powerful clean and occasional screaming vocals.
At only 37 minutes,
Maktub offers a more immediate experience than its predecessor,
The Road To Knowledge, who took some time to take off. For those who are familiar with Zippo's output, they will observe the evolution in sound and structure as well. If not familiar, these guys can safely be put in the same category with the aforementioned influences since they manage to create truly great compositions with a lot of replay value. Diving head first into the record, the listener will observe he's thrown in the middle of the chaos with no prelude whatsoever. This is what makes the record beautiful in the first place: its urgency and the overall atmosphere. The instruments blend really well together along with the vocals and the good production, including mastering provided by James Plotkin, who has worked with Sun O))) and Isis among others, lifts
Maktub even more. There is no weak track to be found on the record and even though everything here is meant to be heard as a whole, there are some songs (if not all) that will catch the listener's attention at a first listen. For example, the mid-section finds Zippo at their finest moments to date. "Caravan To Your Destiny" brings the best out of vocalist Davide Straccione on the record: his powerful, almost prophetic voice shows both a softer side and violent roars towards the crushing ending of the song. He is a great frontman who really manages to carry the instrumentals, but and also knows when it's too much and should step back.
On the other hand, "We, People's Hearts" gradually grows from gentle, dissonant guitar picking to a more trashy ending featuring some really cool choir-like chants closely following the music. This song might be the closest to progressive on
Maktub. Another highlight, "Man Of Theory", features vocals from Orange Goblin's Ben Ward, whose rough voice is really suitable for
Maktub, making a really great duet with Straccione and giving even more power to the record. Another positive aspect is the fact that amid all the (calculated) chaotic change of patterns and pace, there's enough place for groove too (check for example, "The Personal Legend" or "The Omens"' cool bass line).
One recurring theme of the album is fulfillment of dreams, since
Maktub is based on the novel
The Alchemist, written by Portuguese novelist, Paulo Coelho. Even though the music may sound uneasy and pessimistic, the lyrics, in the end, tend towards the opposite: "Dreams reflect one's destiny" and at the end of the day anyone should "turn dreams into reality". Tracks like "We, People's Hearts", "The Treasure" and generally all here have some interesting and noteworthy, courtesy of Straccione ("We, people's hearts/We are sometimes afraid/ Just pursue your dreams/And seek the happiness within a grain of desert sand" or "Always feel where your heart is and its pulse will take you there", etc.). This aspect, along with a great, malleable voice, lets Davide give the album a personality of its own, even at a relatively short length, 37 minutes. This is not to say the rest of the band are less able, as they easily create the perfect ground for his observations and their contribution is above the standard quality that bands deliver these days.
So, in the end,
Maktub is a really good record and any metal fan should make sure not to avoid this release. Even though the band are less famous, they easily rise up with the best in the genre.
