Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’ve been listening to the latest single from solo artist, Zeta-hed. Pro Player was released on February 24th, 2023, and this talented US artist has created an uncompromising 90s grunge rock feel track that would be perfectly placed alongside the likes of Terrorvision, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Linkin Park.
Pro Player starts with dark and ominous guitars, synths and electronic drums. A distorted phone filtered vocal comes in and leads the song into a powerful full band rock song.
Crunching guitars with electric guitar solos display moments of Pantera-style songwriting, and when the vocals come in, you can’t help but make comparisons to Faith No More. first verse drops right back to drums and a super-funky affected bass to leave space for the voice. The vocals are grungey and in places, layered, and lend this track perfectly to us thinking it would sit well on a 90s rock playlist.
Zeta-hed makes superb use of sections within this track, ensuring that at all times, the listener has something excellent to engage with. He also shows superb versatility in his vocal by throwing in the occasional, seemingly effortless patch of death metal/ screamo vocal, and a section of fast almost rap-like vocals. This talented musician has a great deal of techniques in his vocal toolkit.
We love the super-fast explosion of drums to the end, taking the song up another level and crescendoing to a very satisfying conclusion with long held guitar notes.
Ideas from our ears
The clarity and precision in the production is outstanding. A hi-pass filter at 40Hz would remove some unnecessary sub-bass rumble and a careful surgical EQ cut at 196Hz could bring down a slight peak coming from the snare. Also, a boost around 280Hz could fill a small gap and make the low-mids sound a little fuller. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
Pro Player was our first introduction to the music of Zeta-hed. The exceptional musicianship and production won us over, as well as Zeta-hed’s uncompromising attitude that he makes music for himself. This attitude will stand him in good stead and is a refreshing change. A true artist.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089983583195&mibextid=ZbWKwL
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3yVBIQkpsukWKTXnfXUon1?si=aHYv5UZES4q2epnuJyZXPw
https://on.soundcloud.com/2dFt6
https://youtube.com/@zeta-hed
https://instagram.com/zetahed?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=