DIRK SERRIES’ ZONAL DISTURBANCES III is out since late December. Slowly the reviews are sipping through. To order go here, or read the review here below…
ONLY DEATH IS REAL REVIEW :
Belgian Dirk Serries is back with another album under his own name. Known perhaps best for his work with Vidna Obmana, the prolific musician has worked under many monikers throughout his long career. As Dirk Serries, he has released a staggering amount of albums, of which we’ve previously covered just one, Zonal Disturbances II (here).
Keeping up a brisk pace, the third installment in the series follows within a year of the second. This brings up Serries’ 2025 albums under his own name to an even ten (including splits and collaborations), according to Discogs. That’s a lot of music.
Zonal Disturbances III continues in the style of its predecessor, both aesthetically and musically. Electric guitar continues to be in the center of the album, but be assured, it doesn’t sound like a conventional electric guitar. Probably even less so than on Zonal Disturbances II. It’s played entirely atonally. Again, like on the previous album, Serries utilizes darker tones and distortion to bring an industrial, even dark ambient element to the album, but without going “all-in.” This is still ambient.
The album’s haunting, evocative music consists of drawn-out, distorted drones, slow and long layers of echoing, reverberating, serene background layers. Again, as on the previous part, what sounds like the processed moaning of metal beams under duress echo throughout the album, creating associations with industrial complexes and quiet factories. There’s a surprising amount of stuff going on here at times; as such, Zonal Disturbances III can’t be called minimalist or sparse. Entirely abstract – yes.
Like the predecessor, the album feels like morning dawning over a slumbering, waiting, for a moment still industrial area or complex. Just like the cover artwork suggests: cold, inhuman structures of steel and concrete, over which the first signs of a spring morning dawn. There’s this absolutely beautiful, perfectly still and timeless atmosphere. If you’ve ever walked in the business district of some city really, really early in the morning, before the day starts and workers start buzzing about, you know what I mean. That weird, eerie but incredible sensation of standing outside of time.
There’s also a beautifully cinematic feel to the album. It feels like a long, drawn out panoramic shot of an industrial landscape, capturing the unconventional, brutal beauty of them. Nothing moves, everything is absolutely still, only the shot moves slowly over the landscape, almost like a caress.
Zonal Disturbances III is an impressive album. This is the kind of music that, despite being abstract, atonal and instrumental, speaks in volumes. Words are not needed. It manages to strike a chord somewhere deep inside, find a nucleus of familiarity and build something potent and visual from it.
dirkserries.com 