Track By Tracks: Zubzero - Perverseverance (2025)

1. Aftermath:

The EP kicks off in the present state of the world: in a fast pace, moving forward swiftly as if in a rat race. “Do you really believe… (that we are the) first ever species, forever to stay?” Will humanity never get extincted? In the second verse we point out that the opposite is probably closer to the truth: “We’re checking out, right now… in a hurry to leave!” ‘Aftermath’ has loads of groovy sections in between the verses and even some sing along hardcore lines: “Petty! Breed!”. Most of the riffs come from before current vocalist Ferdinand joined Zubzero. Herman (bass) wrote the lyrics for ‘Aftermath’. We completed the song together and it became quite a banger.

2. Biopiracy:

‘Biopiracy’ is a new song with some old lyrics by guitarist Dirk, written somewhere back in 2007. We just added some lines in the writing process, which took only a couple of sessions. It’s a middle finger towards the greedy people within the pharmaceutical industry: “Pharmaceutical monopoly: no pay, no cure. Refuse to give the proper medication, to the third world.”

If you like Sepultura’s ‘Chaos A.D.’, you will love this one. It’s aggressive but swings like hell. We dare you to listen to ‘Biopiracy’ and try to not bang your head. The last line of the lyrics was added by Ferdinand as he was driving home after band practice and heard Radiohead’s ‘Exit Music (For A Film)’ on the radio: “I hope you slowly choke!”.

3. The Essence Of Our Existence:

Another straightforward hard hitter, with loads of groove in the chorus. There’s even a passage that is more stoner orientated. We did a gig with Bongzilla in 2023 and maybe they are responsible for these influences. Other suspects are Kyuss and Truckfighters. Although the song title is not the shortest we have, we chose ‘The Essence Of Our Existence’ as our first single from the ‘Perverseverance’ EP. The lyrics deal with pride in what our ancestors achieved for our country versus disapproval of the violence and slavery that were used to achieve those things. “All these statues and temples, everything you see, is built upon the blood of the bold and the weak.” Life is good in The Netherlands, but we should acknowledge that it’s a result of our brutal past. And slavery is still happening everywhere in the world. “The truth is: we thrive on oppression.”

4. Chronicles:

Zubzero started out in 1999 as a hardcore band with metal influences, nowadays it’s more like the other way round. Usually. Not for the last track of the EP. ‘Chronicles’ is a celebration of hardcore clichés. Musically and lyrically. The main inspiration for this song is ‘Real Recognizes Real’ by Icepick, which features Freddy Madball, Roger Miret from Agnostic Front, and Ice-T, who demand respect from every motherf*cker. But we are not from New York. So we turned it around. Here’s no brotherhood, no respect to demand and “loyalty is for sale, like anything today”.

We finish the song with a humble nod to the thrash metal masters of Testament: “You got to practice before you preach”. Watch out for the upcoming video for ‘Chronicles’.