{"id":24349,"date":"2014-02-27T11:20:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T11:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-reviews-zoax-xiii\/"},"modified":"2022-12-31T12:52:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T12:52:33","slug":"review-zoax-xiii-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Zoax &#8211; XIII EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg\" alt=\"Zoax - XIII EP\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" title=\"\">Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of <strong>Zoax<\/strong> have got off to a superb start with debut EP <em>\u2018XIII\u2019<\/em>. Not that it would surprise any already familiar with the five-piece formerly known as Hoax, who have been making a strong impression up to now with scorching performances both live and in what little has escaped from the studio. But when they\u2019ve torn into Download Festival, toured with Cancer Bats and signed into the Century Media family in the first year of life as a band, you know beyond any doubt that there\u2019s promise there. \u00a0<em>&#8216;XIII&#8217;\u00a0<\/em>is a statement that the potential can \u2013 and will \u2013 be lived up to. As if a band boasting members of Rise to Remain and To Catch a Thief could have you expecting anything less.<\/p>\n<p>The opening track <em>\u2018Bitter Angry Fake\u2019<\/em> is the centrepiece of an average-length EP that still manages to seem brutally short. It sounds almost feral; a level of ferocity which has worked so well for the likes of Night Verses and Cytota in their recent breakouts. There\u2019s no better way of saying it, the quintet already sound huge and every tool at their disposal is being utilised in a magnificent introduction to the band. When the track does take something of a breather, you can think of nothing but when it\u2019s going to explode again, and when it does, while the sheer force may not have been retained the towering nature of the band still shines through. <em>\u2018Burn it to the Ground\u2019<\/em> is another well-composed piece, but it does highlight that the band\u2019s cleaner vocals do leave a little to be desired. When truly unleashed, however, the outcome is just as impressive as before, and <strong>Zoax<\/strong> don\u2019t exactly seem like the kind of outfit to be pulling punches.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<p>The core appeal of <strong>Zoax<\/strong> as relative newbies with a beyond-impressive pedigree is one that\u2019s hard to ignore. It\u2019s post-hardcore with an arena-filling power, the likes of which many bands could go decades without nailing. <strong>Zoax<\/strong> have got it down at the very first attempt, setting them up as a serious force to be reckoned with in the near future.<em> \u2018High\u2019<\/em> and <em>\u2018Jekyll Meets Hyde\u2019<\/em> cement this position even more; the latter boasting a bit of groove within its hulking riffwork, whilst the former is a back-and-forth powerhouse of a track, with every ebb making the flows seem that much stronger. <em>\u2018Mind Game\u2019<\/em> sees the EP closed out by its longest effort, and while the length isn\u2019t enough to have it sounding exactly \u201cepic\u201d, the extra minute is definitely well-used as the quintet bring <em>&#8216;XIII&#8217;\u00a0<\/em>to a thunderous conclusion.<\/p>\n<p>Nineteen minutes is not enough for <strong>Zoax<\/strong> right now.<em><strong> \u2019<\/strong>XIII\u2019<\/em> is a classic case of a magnificent EP held back only because it\u2019s an EP, and not a full-length release. It\u2019s not likely to be long, however, until more sounds emerge from the five-piece\u2019s camp and more optimistic fans can hope for a debut album to also come this year, but right now it\u2019s <em>&#8216;XIII&#8217;\u00a0<\/em>that\u2019s getting \u2013 and deservedly too \u2013 all the attention. Talk about making an impression.<\/p>\n<p>4.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;XIII\u2019 <\/em>by <strong>Zoax<\/strong> is out now on <strong>Siege Of Amida Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zoax <\/strong>links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zoaxbandofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/zoaxofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/zoaxofficial.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Antony Lusmore (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Metacosmica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@Metacosmica<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would surprise any already familiar with the five-piece formerly known as Hoax, who have been making a strong impression up to now with scorching performances both live and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2269],"tags":[7810,10691,2434],"class_list":["post-24349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ep-review","tag-siege-of-amida-records","tag-xiii","tag-zoax"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Zoax - XIII EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Zoax - XIII EP - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-27T11:20:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-31T12:52:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Zoax - XIII EP - Already Heard Staging","description":"Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Zoax - XIII EP - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2014-02-27T11:20:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-31T12:52:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3"},"headline":"Review: Zoax &#8211; XIII EP","datePublished":"2014-02-27T11:20:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-31T12:52:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/"},"wordCount":558,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg","keywords":["Siege of Amida Records","XIII","Zoax"],"articleSection":["EP Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/","name":"Review: Zoax - XIII EP - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg","datePublished":"2014-02-27T11:20:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-31T12:52:33+00:00","description":"Barely a year old and already turning heads, the hard-hitting quintet of Zoax have got off to a superb start with debut EP \u2018XIII\u2019. Not that it would","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-zoax-xiii-ep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_inline_n1k8t2OFg41qheirv.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/508ed29771f8c5b56fdcf4695f22a2a3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/bcf4d491c971b5225a3e3c450225c0ae6ba0217be8f6ecb776a9506d4aa5595f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90579,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24349\/revisions\/90579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}