I’ve written quite a bit about the Los Angeles-based thrash punk/metal trio and JOVM mainstays Zig-Zags over the past couple of years, and as you may recall, the act — currently, founding member Jed Maheu (guitar, vocals), Dane Andrews (drums) and longtime sound engineer, multi-instrumentalist Sean Hoffman (bass) — over the course of their eight-plus year history have gone through a series of lineup changes, while releasing seven singles and three full-length albums. Each of those albums found the band managing to subtly yet continually evolve their sound, songwriting approach and overall aesthetic.
The Los Angeles-based JOVM mainstays fourth, full-length album They’ll Never Take Us Alive was released earlier this year through RidingEasy Records, and the album finds the ban paying homage to their earliest influences — the bandmembers’ mutual love of Dead Moon and Wipers, while remaining decidedly thrash metal.“Fallout,” the Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning-era Metallica-like album single further cemented the band’s reputation for specializing in headbanging, power chord-based riffs and rousingly anthemic hooks paired with a blistering urgency. The album’s latest single “Killer of Killers” continues in a similar vein as its immediate predecessor, power chord-centered riffs, rousingly anthemic hooks, blistering and dexterous solos — paired with an urgent and frenzied production and performance.
The recently released video for “Killer of Killers” is a cartoonish and goofily lo-fi take on Troma Films-like horror films, complete with a sociopathic, masked mass murderer, who kills as many people at a local park as he could — although one Walkman-wearing kid manages to escape. The video splits between our shitty horror film and footage of the band playing a frenzied set in front of headbanging admirers. Fake blood and gore abounds; but it still kicks ass!
The JOVM mainstays are currently on tour throughout the European Union and UK throughout the summer. They’ll be playing their first Stateside shows in some time in the fall. Check out the tour dates below.
