The Zico Chain - Food

At some point, metal somehow stopped being about how to be the most ass-kicking, obnoxious and vile bad ass, and more about who had the best stylist. Blame Marilyn Manson, blame Slipknot, blame MTV2, blame the kids who discovered where Pantera really came from; but whoever is at fault, we now have a generation of rockers who have been, no matter how good their intentions, raised and groomed on such superficialities. Zico Chain never really had a chance then – they sound like they want to raise a devil-handed salute but don't really have the influences or inspiration to make that kind of music. They are often reminiscent of QOTSA, but coat it all with a pink emo gloss that that makes you want to take them out to chop some wood and guzzle a few shots of sour mash. But then the rock kids are practically in the same boat, so relatively speaking Food is a killer riff fest. [Ali Maloney]