Bloodstock : 30 Bands Not To Miss - Zetra

18. Zetra – Sophie Lancaster stage -  Friday, August 11th – mid afternoon

Welcome to the point where future, past and present collide. Zetra feel like nostalgia for a time to come. A Time Capsule from a dim dark future where synthesizers and samplers have become sentient and black metal is now the dominant religion.

Visually they are a corpse paint-themed S&M party. The Adams Family does Dallas. Musically they exist in an alternative version of the 80s where Stock, Aitken Waterman, Bros and Brother Beyondnever happened. A version of the 80s when the synth remained cutting edge as opposed to being forever tied to cheap flimsy pop.

This is synth-gaze, a melancholically beautiful foray into the deep recesses of the soul. On the surface melodic and wistful, but if you peel back the layers it is packed full of sorrow and unadulterated horror. You see there is great heaviness here, but it exists just beyond the realm of hearing. Disarmingly tuneful for something so dark and mournful, whatever you think of them they will stay etched in your mind forever.