It was back in 2011 that Joshua Mellody AKA Zomboy first made his breakthrough onto the EDM scene. Fast forward to 2014 and you’ll find that he has now released his first eagerly awaited album ‘The Outbreak’ through Never Say Die Records. Anticipated as a full-length release of his hard-hitting and distortive dubstep, on his debut Zomboy demonstrates his range as a producer with a dynamically decent LP that hits the mark on a wide range of EDM compositions.
As the title suggests, ‘The Outbreak’ paints a picture of being thrown into the midst of a zombie apocalypse. Zomboy sets the scene for this theme with the first track ‘Nuclear’; listening in to a news broadcast before dropping into a reggae infused backbeat reminiscent of one of his main influences: Skrillex. The second and title song ‘Outbreak’, which features American rapper Armanni Reign, hits home Zomboy’s trademark frenetic bass lines whilst Reign’s ability to keep pace as the song escalates will leave you captivated. From a personal perspective, this infectious tune is one I tip to blow the roof off most raves or dubstep arenas in the coming months!
Zomboy displays his skills as we move on through the album, managing to successfully branch out into other forms of EDM. Delving into complextro – a sub genre of Electro House usually credited to SebastiAn – Zomboy delivers ‘Airborne’: a track which will appeal to EDM DJ’s, fitting perfectly into a set mixed with Knife Party or Kill The Noise. Next in Zomboy’s bag of tricks he surprises us with ‘Beast In The Belly’. Listening to this track you could be fooled into thinking you’re hearing the beginnings of an atmospheric and mysterious Prodigy anthem. However, swiftly changing its colours like a chameleon, Zomboy switches things up and leads us forward on a catchy trap vibe.
Up next, tracks ‘Skull N Bones’ and ‘Immunity’ showcase more of the acclaimed and original Zomboy flavour with glitchy intricate sounds overlaying a drumstep styled foundation. ‘Immunity’ in particular appears to have been especially well received y current listeners and owners of the album thus far across the internet EDM community. On following track ‘Survivors’ the 25-year old teams up with his Never Say Die Records label mate, MUST DIE! to create a world of havoc with this brostep smash: a dubstep variant pioneered and influenced once again by the sounds of Skrillex.
Adding further strings to his bow in his delivery of varying genres, Zomboy creates an energetic big room number for the summer with ‘WTF!?’ as well as throwing in impressive breakbeat piece ‘Patient Zero’ for good measure; bringing back fond memories of the old-school rave era. The album then nicely rounds off with another electro house tune featuring vocals by Swiss-Canadian artist Rykka. Not to be out-done by the rest of this compact track list, Zomboy adds his other talents of EDM styles and proceeds to wade in with some dubstep and trap patterns to create a worthwhile finale to this vibrant and entertaining LP.
Zomboy seems to be making a statement with this album: appearing eager to demonstrate his creative variability and not be pigeon-holed as a single-genre producer. He has expressed himself in several different lights artistically throughout ‘The Outbreak’, and in my opinion this exploration of styles can only benefit Zomboy in the future as he continues to inject momentum into his music for his thousands of bass-head EDM raving followers.
If you are a general, all-round fan of EDM who enjoys the sounds of very heavy, somewhat dark dubstep along with the uplifting synths of electro house plus many more, then this album is most definitely worth the purchase. Have a listen to ‘Immunity’ below, and pick up your own copy here!
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