“To truly know death is to exist in tune with spirits of a higher vibration and to embrace perpetual suffering as a potential gateway to psychic intelligence. Our future unfolds within our dreams, unmasked by our openness and vulnerability.”
Washington D.C.’s Zabus have just released their second album in just three months, following January 2024’s debut, Topography of Iconoclasm. The new album, The Future of Death, sees the addition of drums and electronic percussion, and a focus on more conventional song structures and melodies, influenced by early ‘80s UK post-punk and proto-goth. However, sonic experimentalism remains at the core of the band.
Formed in 2023, as part of the Washington D.C. artist collective and recording label Saccharine Underground, Zabus is the brainchild of writer and multi-instrumentalist, Jeremy Moore. Joined in Zabus by collaborators from Moore’s previous projects, Zero Swann and Gorazde, Zabus maintains those earlier projects’ foundations in dark existentialism, whilst opening up broader avenues for musical experimentation and expressions of hope. The new album, The Future of Death is the second long-player from Zabus in just three months, following January 2024’s debut offering, Topography of Iconoclasm.
Based between Washington D.C. and Bethesda, Maryland, Jeremy Moore is the founder and curator of D.C. label and nonprofit artist collective, Saccharine Underground: home to several projects helmed by Moore. These include deathrock band Thee Rise Ov Sadistic Youth; free improv / psychedelic outfit Zero Swann; and the experimental dark ambient group Gorazde. Zabus is the offspring and natural successor to the latter two bands, combining members and musical elements from both.
The Future of Death sees Jeremy Moore (voice, guitars, 4 string bass, synthesis) joined by Saccharine Underground contributors Peter Hallock of Gorazde (6 string bass) and Alkane Shimizu of Zero Swann (strings, synthesis) – both of whom also appear on Topography of Iconoclasm – together with Jeroen Achterberg, who introduces drums and electronic percussion to the Zabus sonic milieu.
Moore states:
“The album began as a singular idea focused on the psychological and emotional vulnerability inherent in depression and suicidality. The album evolved thematically from there—what if, during these periods of extreme susceptibility, we were more open to supernatural influence? The first song recorded for the album, “The All Light”, pushes this question further—what if the prospect of imminent death opened a gateway to the astral realm, from the victim’s mind to the universal unconscious? The album is not a glorification of death, but urges us to revere it as a necessary and sacred component of our cyclical existence, from corporeal to incorporeal.”
Stylistically, the album borrows heavily from the gothic and UK post-punk sound of the early 1980s, with obvious nods to The Chameleons, Bauhaus, early New Order and The Sisters of Mercy. The new album deviates significantly from the debut Topography of Iconoclasm, with a stronger emphasis on traditional song structure and melody, all anchored by a prominent rhythm section. The synths play a dual role, serving as both a background textural element and a precision melodic tool to complement the guitars. Experimentation and dark romanticism remain at the core of the band’s sound, and despite a more accessible approach to the album’s eight tracks, The Future of Death continues the Zabus trajectory sparked by their debut.
Recorded at S.V. Studios, D.C., The Future of Death was engineered by Andy Baldwin (Metropolis Studios) and produced by Zabus, with artwork designed by Ava Agosti and Jeremy Moore.