Zone is a dutch band, founded somewhere near the end of 1998. 6 months later vocalist Eko joins the band, and the lineup is complete when Ditmar joined the band in 2002 as their second guitarist.

I'll be very honest with saying that this cd doesn't impress me that much. And I cant blame the bands playing for that, because the songs are well played and the production is pretty good, for a self financed cd. Its just that it feels to me like this should have been out a few years ago. This might be a bit harsh to say but the songs sound more like 1998 then 2004. Which is not a bad thing if you like (nu)metal(core) from that time period but compared to more modern bands Zone could put some more time in their own sound.

On for some more positive words. Musically, the band reminded me of a mix of old Korn and a more modern Machine Head sound, mixed with a little bit of Hatebreed. There are some good riffs troughout the disc that will surely keep the crowd going, and also props for the drummer, some good footwork troughout the disc! If I had to make a top 3 with songs from this disc I would go with "Help me", because it keeps the speed up a bit, "Hitting People", for some good riffs in that one, altough I dont really like the melodic parts in it. Vocalist Eko has a good voice for screaming vocals but his clean singing could use some polishing. Third place would go to opener "Conscience", because its one of the most agressive tracks on the disc, and its quite compact. I like that, short and heavy.

In the end I do have to say that this disc is just a decent offering. The problem is that in this style, the band will not win an award for originalty or ground breaking compositions. Maybe they do not aim to and really enjoy playing their songs, but I do think the guys should definitly try to be a bit more innovative and keep it going because the ability certainly is there!

Tracklisting:
1. Conscience
2. Die Alone
3. Break All Hope Down
4. Help Me
5. Hitting People
6. Tired
7. Identity
8. First Step