The very outer skirts of extreme metal have always been realms that I cannot help but find endlessly fascinating. To see a style that already borders on the very edges of what many would consider beyond the very conception of accessible music go even further is such a tantalizing concept to someone like me that it’s all but irresistible for all that it can produce with some of the world’s craziest acts coming out of such a crazy place. Every new entry seems to be pushing the very idea of the style into slightly new territory with every release being adventures in their own rights with bands like Zos constantly and consistently showing to us precisely why it’s still absolutely fascinating to lose oneself in.

Without having to even hear a single note of what Zos has to offer for this release, it’s downright effortless to look at the art for “The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS” and get the sensation that this is not going to be a record that would be considered accessible nor the sort of creation that is inviting to those with a rigid view on what metal should be despite the style’s naturally explorative tendencies. That’s but a taste of what Zos managed to summon for this massive creation for not only is it an incredibly dense body of work that has so much to pick apart no matter what angle you approach it from with the very whole of the 44-minute creation almost all but mind-melting for what that it brings forward in such exquisite form that’s beyond staggering. The very idea of dark psychedelia pierces every given facet of “The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS” with even the very fading notes of a given song being enough to transport you into a fading world of no light where the very next song takes place in that darkness to only transform into something wildly different one minute after the next to the point where not only is the listener constantly being whiplashed in the best way possible, Zos is all but undeniable in its performance that simply cannot be compared to anything else. The very notion of creating something that feels otherworldly and ethereal is a concept that manages to elude millions throughout the very whole of the underground, but it’s something that seems to come naturally to some.

Not only does Zos manage to somehow embody that very idea in the five tracks that are presented to us here, but it’s at the very forefront of metal that manages to push the very ideals of the genre to its furthest reaches with everything brought forth in a release that can somehow come even close to “The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS” being the exact reasons why this particular realm of metal will never cease to fascinate and bewilder.

“The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS” releases on April 22nd via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “The Whole of the Body I Call ZOS” on Bandcamp here.