ZinEgo

ZinEgo

Angela Macari O’Looney


This collection of songs is performed by four guys based in Newbridge, Co. Kildare. The CD cover art is particularly colourful, bringing to mind a canvass covered in Oil paint or Gauche applied with passion. You can almost smell the turps. This was designed by Cofdesign in Newbridge. I like it since it reflects the passion and true devotion that seems to have gone into creating its contents!

Paul O’Connor Vox/Guitar, Amar Mahase Bass/ B-Vox, Graham Coffey Drums and Simone Trabison Lead Guitar are the members of ZinEgo, who are an interesting mix of cultures and styles. Simone on Lead guitar hails from Italy. Piaciero Simone!

Taking influences from all of the best rock legends ranging from U2, Thin Lizzy, Queen, Guns N’ Rose, Therapy, Pearl Jam, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, this band have come up with yet another seductive and charming genre that combines the rough with the smooth!

Brothers in Arms

A Drum intro followed by a distortion packed guitar riff, take you to the slow mournful verse of this number. This sweet riff continues throughout the verse, which involves Paul’s slightly gritty, but tuneful vocals. Simone's lead guitar sings as he performs fantastic solos and Amar’s baseline adds atmosphere.

Love Lies Bleeding

A trickling guitar, cymbal and a melodic verse make up the beginning of this rock Ballad. It becomes more vibrant for the chorus, which has poignant lyrics; Love lies bleeding, jagged edge to my soul. Love lies bleeding everyone will fall. Lost all believing it’s the end of the world Lots of distortion for this part!
Simone once again takes a lead solo that reflects the pain of a bleeding heart, as screaming notes portray tragedy.

Keys (Faith)

This is an acoustic number, where backing vocals add interest. Things build up a little as it develops, with an electric guitar coming in plus a hint of distortion in it, the beat becoming more vital. Lead is injected here and there and the combination created from the entire sound is soothing.

T-Minus

Livelier than the first three tracks, this is seductive with a choppy beat. A busy baseline and a memorable riff create the piece de resistance!
These take you into the verse which is catchy and dramatic.
Simone yet again produces a show stopping solo with fingers flying across the frets of his guitar and Graham does a catchy drum break. The riffs and hooks are just so delicious and are repeated behind Paul’s vocals throughout.

My favourite track on this album is Crossroads!
It has superb guitar, is lively and definitely shows off Paul’s exciting rock voice to great advantage. It begins with bass and percussion, then a sensational guitar riff comes in. There’s a sense of tragedy in the lyrics; she will never know what way her life could have been, if she had taken another road.
There’s a stop start just before the fluently played lead solo, yet another demonstration of the virtuoso quality of the lead guitarist.
Softly played bass notes take this number to its conclusion.

Abyss has a bass intro, which is joined by drums and a splash of lead. The bass riff and beat continue for the verse. Then an explosive distortion laden guitar riff comes in for the chorus. The melody line is a little moody, but it seems to be about the end of a love affair, so lots of minor notes and a sense of finality and emotion in the vocals portray this.

Falling

This is an acoustic number, with a sad melody line in it. It’s catchy however and Paul’s vocals are quite special here, with lots of emotion involved. You definitely feel a sense of falling, as you listen to this song and like all the songs here there’s a mournfulness coming through.

Pulsating melody lines and guitars that weep gently behind expressively sung lyrics!
This would be my description of my experience of ZinEgo. I feel that this album proves that although each of the top bands mentioned in their influences such as Lizzy, AC/DC and Therapy are apparent, they have created something with their own stamp on it, which in many ways surpasses some of the more prominent rock bands about.