Zerøspace (Kidneythieves) #NNR3
Updated: 5 days ago
In the early 2000s, while many followers were following in the footsteps of Mr. Reznor and his multifaceted Nine Inch Nails, and at the same time, nu metal had given a new, furious impetus to visceral, unrestrained lyrics, a few bands blended elements of trip-hop and electronic music with an unapologetic gothic and industrial aesthetic, allowing themselves to eschew the need to please and delivering a brand of metal that was often more sensual than aggressive, deeply melancholic and never resorting to the easy way out.
This was the case for the American band Kidneythieves when, on March 26, 2002, they released Zerøspace, their second album, following a remix EP (Phi in the Sky). Although driven by the dynamic duo of Free Dominguez on vocals and Bruce Somers on various instruments, the band enlisted the help of talented musicians to deliver 13 tracks (including a hidden track) that sound more like the soundtrack to a dystopian TV series or a cyberpunk video game than a simple industrial rock album. The compositions don’t copy any particular sound or try to ride a trend, but instead highlight the musicality of the keyboards, the sharp edge of the guitars, and the vocal energy of their charismatic singer, all without falling into genre clichés. And of course, the whole thing is exceptionally well-produced, and Kidneythieves, who had included one of their signature tracks (“Before I’m Dead”) on the soundtrack for Queen of the Damned, alongside acts like Static X and Jonathan Davis, fit right in within this landscape that is by turns menacing and desperate, yet where a glimmer of hope always remains.
In the style of Anne Rice, who succeeded in rehumanizing the mythical vampire, bringing his situation, that of an immortal endowed with “a heart” yet doomed to watch all those he loves die, to its tragic peak, the Kidneythieves, through their incorporation of other electronic genres, are breathing new life into rock at the dawn of this new millennium, a sound with existential undertones, at times monumental, and at other moments hypnotic or even ethereal. Just listen to what the band does with “Crazy,” a country classic written by Willie Nelson and popularized by Patsy Cline: a truly dark and sensual confession, much like this album Zerøspace, where Free sings of loneliness and misunderstanding, as well as obsessive love, in an intimate, internal struggle that quickly takes on universal dimensions.
It’s actually amazing to realize that this album hasn’t aged at all. Although the band hasn’t been in the spotlight for a long time, with this kind of unexpected gem they’ve left a wonderful legacy for the current generation and, in that sense, have carved out a different path from many bands that have gotten bogged down in repeating the same sound. In this regard, The Trickster Reprocess, a remaster of their debut album The Trickster, will drive home this distinction in 2003, setting them apart from passing musical trends. Far less accessible than Zerøspace, the remastered and expanded album would venture into an even more cinematic and atmospheric realm, enough to permanently alienate the general public, who had loved bangers like “Zerospace” and the aggressive “Black Bullet,” not to mention the beautiful “Serene Dream”, while solidifying a fan base for the band’s unique sound.
Listening to Zerøspace today, somewhere between industrial energy and a journey into the world of the ether (“Floating high, but I’m always down,” sings Free in the chorus of “Zerospace”), between elation and depression, takes on an unexpected modernity, and the line “Before I’m dead” suddenly becomes an oracular pronouncement, inviting the listener to embrace the idea that it’s time to live, to feel, to achieve, to flourish, before it’s too late. It’s a pleasant way to slow down, whether to better tap along to the catchy rhythms of this album of light and shadow or to allow oneself to escape, if only for a few moments, the diktat of excessive productivity. From this perspective, Zerøspace almost seems like a futuristic message sent to listeners in 2002, listeners who were reluctant to receive it, listen to it, or take it in, which explains why it flew under the radar and yet, paradoxically, manages to captivate the somewhat jaded sensibilities of a generation that is rediscovering its heady, irresistible allure.
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