Zanilonia – “Meet The Metal Me”

Zanilonia – “Meet The Metal Me” – Single Review

Perception is such an interesting thing in relation to the way we listen to, and experience music.  I’ll fully admit that when Zanilonia’s new single “Meet The Metal Me” popped into my inbox, I honestly thought that I was gonna be in for a song literally from the Metal genre in some way.  Beyond that, I even kinda rolled my eyes at the title – keep in mind, this is still before I pushed play – I felt like a song called “Meet The Metal Me” would have been about the most obvious Metal-thing to do…so when I pushed play, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that this single isn’t Metal at all.  It ain’t that I don’t like Metal – I do!  I like a little of everything out there, but the combination of that genre with the title of this track seemed like it would have had to be like, some kind of over the top parody of itself.  Instead, Zanilonia takes you deep into a synthetically designed, artistically tinged, undeniable oddity that is on the fringe of several genres that ain’t Metal, and as a result of the efforts, “Meet The Metal Me” becomes a perfect title for THIS metallic song.  The curious way this track begins is stellar, and the main synth hooks at the core of this single are revealed shortly afterwards to keep ya listening…it’s a cut that’ll get you listening.  Vocally, you can hear there’s a performance-based type of thing goin’ on…the kind of music with the art & craft in mind, you know what I mean?  It’s ambitious when it comes right down to it…I still think it’s highly on the fringe of what listeners would normally dig…but there’s something very oddly addictive & beyond description about this single too.  It’s different than so much of what we listen to & what’s out there in the ol’ mainstream – and ain’t there always value in that kind of uniqueness?  Anyone that comes across Zanilonia and digs what’s happening in this “virtual ensemble” is quite likely to become a loyal listener from that point on.

Look…perhaps the best thing I can say is that you SHOULD listen to this.  You should want to seek out songs, artists, bands, and music that challenges convention and dares to do something differently.  I’ve got a lot of respect for a song like “Meet The Metal Me” in that regard…it’s perplexing in so many ways, and very much magnificent for the exact same reasons.  Lyrically, there is SO MUCH here…and it varies to the point that you’d never really be able to predict what’s about to come at you next.  Brilliant, but at the same time, it’s eerily similar to the way you’ve seen AI write tunes already too…that warped way this poetry can shift into humor for just a mere second, where you have to wonder if it was really intentional or a happy accident, you follow me?  Like…maybe not that it wasn’t intended to be funny, I’m sure that it was – but the moments of comedy that do pop up in lines like “Would you stand by me if I accidentally broke your sweet expensive electric food mixer” become riotous after Zanilonia slinks right back into such an intensely serious neon electro-groove that’s the dank, dark, and gnarly hook we’ve been lovin’ on all along.  What’s like…ridiculously impressive actually…is that there are more moments of intricate poetry and insightful lyricism here than there is comedy to be found…so again, it’s not that I’m saying a track like this belongs in the comedy section…not at all really – what I’m saying is that’s kind of the beauty of it all…you never see lines like “Would you stand by me if I had a big fight with your sister” coming, ever.  You’ll hear what I’m talking about when you listen for yourself…I know, I sound like I’m ranting about the strangest things, which is really because that IS what I’m writing about here…but I feel like Zanilonia knows that, has embraced that inherent bizarreness, and continues to push forward into the art of it all.

Musically, the whole vibe is deadly cool when it comes to the main melody at its core…like…for real – listen to this track slide back into the instrumental sections around the fifty-second mark, or later on around ninety seconds in…that’s as badass as a groove can get, so pay some respect!  Is this single weird overall?  Heck yes!  Can the average everyday listener hang with a song like this?  Heck no!  And that’s largely because, for as barebones as a track like “Meet The Metal Me” actually is, it’s still got a ton of Progressive aspects to it that are revealed through the structure and its artistic ambitions.  Beyond that, it’s highly poetic, and purposefully clever in the lyrics…so different than what you’d expect that you really won’t see anything coming…I’ve spun this song several times, and the unpredictable way it moves, what’s said, and what’s played…is nothing but intriguing to me.  I think there are moments in the vocals here and there that could be a bit more polished I guess…but by that same token, you can completely hear how stunning Zanilonia’s vocals are between 2:25-2:35 too…it’s a bit more of a mixed result in that regard, when it comes to what’s happening on the microphone…but nothing I felt outweighed what our ears naturally accept.  Heck, I’d even argue there’s a good chance that Zanilonia clearly wanted some sort of more rigid or robotic way of singing this song given its overall theme…all I’m saying is that the public tends to hear less context in performance-minded tunes than they’re intended to have…as in people tend to hear sounds, more-so than the actual ideas that caused them.  That being said, I tend to feel like Zanilonia deserves the benefit of the doubt here…right now I’m convinced that for one reason or another, “Meet The Metal Me” deserves more than a single spin, and each time you put this track on again, you’ll probably find yourself appreciating something different about it.  Never underestimate the power of polarizing tunes y’all…they make us think, they make us consider things we don’t know…they typically challenge both convention and our perception at the same time, and show us a unique aspect of what making music can be like.  I don’t expect everyone out there to get this track…but I can’t help but feel like one spin will lead to another all the same, if only to give yourself another shot at figuring out what the heck is really going on here!  Highly unique…thought-provoking poetic lyricism…music that is beautiful when it wants to be, savagely cool otherwise…I might not know what Zanilonia is either yet, but I do think I dig what’s going on, and I’d certainly be interested in checking out what else they’re up to based-on this one single.

Learn more about Zanilonia at the official website:  http://zanilonia.com

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