Fresh from the sun-soaked Western Australian shoreline, right out of Perth has arrived SANZU with their groovy debut EP "Painless". At least that's where I thought these monsters came from before I heard their EP, which to my ears, was a match made in the flaming infernos of Hell. Although the EP's opener "18 Days of Rain" rings quite an assonant and reader-friendly title, be you fooled no more because from the moment this killer track begins you are instantly sucked in to Hart and Century's diabolical, djent-ish guitar chugs paralleled by drummer Ben Stanley's groovy yet aggressive half-time rhythm, all to the hymn of vocalist Zachary Andrew's guttural fries-which I found to have closely resembled those of such legends like Randy Blyth (LAMB OF GOD) and Rob Flynn (MACHINE HEAD). SANZU does not beat around the bush in this one, they burn it. Moses style. And how could I dodge those pristine pinch harmonics in "For All" courtesy of Hart and Century played against Curley's bone-breaking bass riffs? Those things add so much chilly to this one, you'll be spitting fiery flames so hot, not even IMMORTAL'S Abbath will match you.

However, this five-track debut EP doesn't always exude that groove metal-style playing that becomes more and more transparent while listening to SANZU. Titles like "Variant Red" and "Defamer" tend to display a more undisciplined and aggressive showcase of talents. Structurally speaking, I found the music in "Variant Red" to be somewhat pushed/enforced as the song progressed, rather than letting the track play itself out. The sheer multitude of different and inconsistent verses in this one led me to the impression that I wasn't in fact listening to a song, but rather an eight-minute jam session of the band, musically showcasing a cramped cluster of techniques. I feel this one could have been split up in to two separate tracks, and in doing that each of the songs would make a bit more sense and remain consistent in themselves. Again in "Defamer" do you encounter a less disciplined delivery of rhythm from Stanley on drums and continual alternations in vocal techniques from Andrews.

The final track on SANZU'S groovy debut EP "Lunar Crush" is definitely played and performed in a way tracks like "Variant Red" aren't: consistently and memorably. This is probably my number from this EP. It's opens in a soothing and mystical effort on the string sbefore building itself up to an uber-groovy climax of morbidly low pitched guitar and bass riffs backed by that 4/4 timing "umph-dumph" drum pattern we tend to hear a lot from in the groove metal genre. Excellent production and execution on this one. It comes, it sees, it conquers. A definite mark left!

A superb effort from Australia's SANZU on this one. I cannot wait to hear more!<