I know you’re supposed to write zhOra like that, with the big ‘o’ and the little ‘z,’ but somehow I just couldn’t make myself do it in the headline. It would be the same starting a sentence. Zhora. Look, they’re a cool band and all, but grammar can only bend so far before it ultimately breaks, you know what I’m saying?

No, probably not. Fine.

Zhora, or, if you prefer, zhOra, will be doing a quick run of Irish dates next month with Sail and Everest Queen, and I’m posting the tour info not so much because I expect everybody to make their travel plans and get to Belfast or Dublin or Cork or Limerick in time for a show, but because it gives me an excuse as well to post the video for “Ruthless Bastards,” the punishing vibe of which is very much suiting the kind of day I’ve had. I hope yours has been better, or if not, you find similar catharsis.

Have at it:

We are playing our final run of Irish dates for the year this October. We are joined by some old and new friends.

Oct 24th | Voodoo Belfast
Oct 25th | Sin É Dublin
Oct 26th | Fred Zeppelins, Cork
Oct 27th | Siege of Limerick*

Everest Queen are from Stevenage in the UK and have been good mates of ours for a few years now. We played Bloodstock Festival together back in 2017 along with some awesome UK tours. They are the best of people and they live for riffs. It’s there first time in Ireland and we know they are going to go down really well.

Sail hail from Somerset and are also hitting Ireland for the first time. It’s also our first time gigging together and we cannot wait to see their dense, stoney sludge music performed live with an awesome Irish crowd behind them.

The Siege weekenders are always phenomenal so we are really buzzing for this one. Cheers to everyone that has come to all the shows this year, bought a t shirt and just had a good laugh. We have had an awesome run and look forward to welcoming the darker months in style with all of our mental friends all over this mad country.

zhOra Line-up:
Colin Bolger, Tom Woodlock, Alan Hanlon, Ian O’Meara

https://www.zhorasludge.com
https://www.instagram.com/zhoraireland/
https://www.facebook.com/zhOramusic/
http://zhora1.bandcamp.com/

zhOra, “Ruthless Bastards” official video

Irish sludgechuggers Zhora — also stylized as zhOra — released their second album, Ethos, Pathos, Logos, late last year, and in addition to its somewhat metaphysically-encompassing title, the Clonmel-based four-piece unleashed with it torrents of progressively pummeling riffs, harsh shouts and purposefully contemplative onslaught. Philosophical exploration through physical or aural punishment? They wouldn’t be the first to tap into flogging for mind expansion by any means, but I guess when something works you roll with it.

The track “Riverchrist” is the second of the total 11 on Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and its new video that you can see below is a deeply creative endeavor involving oldschool-looking animation and a narrative of human sacrifice resulting in a priest or monk of some kind meeting, trapping and — maybe — ultimately joining with his god. It gets kind of murky as these things will, but it’s visually stunning all the same and though in cases like this it’s usually something mined from the public domain or just snagged from a part of a movie or short film or something like that, nope, this one’s all original. Kudos to Goat Planet, which produced the clip.

In addition to the gigs listed below with The Faceless and Conan and Monolord, Zhora have been confirmed to take part in the inaugural Crypt of the Riff festival (info here) alongside Elder Druid, Garganjua, Hornets and others. One imagines further appearances are to come throughout 2018 as they continue to support Ethos, Pathos, Logos, but in the meantime, you can check out the “Riverchrist” video here, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Enjoy:

zhOra, “Riverchrist” official video

Irish sludge powerhouse ZHORA have released a new video for their track ‘Riverchrist’, taken from their sophomore album Ethos, Pathos, Logos which was released on 27 October 2017.

‘Riverchrist’ revolves around the fictional character ‘Sin Eater’ and his dominion over vast lands and its people. Written through a first person perspective, his malevolent yet precarious demeanor illustrates the fictional deity and his world of no mercy.

Animation by Goat Planet – https://www.facebook.com/goatplanet/

The Irish sludge metal group have also announced two upcoming shows:

February 6th with THE FACELESS
May 15th with CONAN and MONOLORD

Zhora on Thee Facebooks

Zhora on Twitter

Zhora on Bandcamp

Zhora BigCartel store

Irish post-sludgers Zhora — also presented as zhOra, which I’m not doing, because I’m an adult and capitalizing the first letter of a proper noun is a choice I’ve made and even if it’s wrong in this instance, I’m sticking by it — are gearing up for a weekender tour starting this Friday which will take them to Siege of Limerick, where they’ll share the stage with the likes of Orange Goblin as well as Emerald Isle countrymen like Zlatanera, Kurokuma, Elder Druid, Demeter and many others. Seems as fitting an occasion as any to mark the release of their new album, the genre-spanning self-release Ethos, Pathos, Logos, from which the band has just posted the track “Infernal Liturgy” as a name-your-price download, and which is about as all-over-the-place in its sub-three-minute run as you could ask.

Cool by me. They might not be much for capitalization, but if it’s between that and weirding out, even I have to admit the weird-out is the way to go. Particularly when it’s still so heavy.

Info and audio follows, courtesy of the PR wire:

Irish Sludge Metallers ZHORA Release Free Track Download Ahead of Headline Tour

Album Ethos, Pathos, Logos Released 27 October

Irish sludge powerhouse zhOra have released the latest single ‘Infernal Liturgy’ for free download ahead of their headline tour which starts October 20th. The track is taken from forthcoming sophomore album Ethos, Pathos, Logos which is released on 27 October.

Vocalist Colin Bolger comments: “Infernal Liturgy takes place right in the middle of the story. It deals with our main character “Riverchrist” and how he convinces a group of desperate tribespeople to resort to cannibalism and devour each other. We like to think of it as our demented death metal ballad. It’s slimy yet angular and features our drummer Tom spitting a glorious vocal rhythm with some genuine venom. We took director Zoe Kavanagh, her camera crew and a group of our oldest friends to the forest for a few days in September and shot a mad new video which will be debuting soon. We used fake limbs, fire and skulls, lots of mushrooms, not enough cans and 27 litres of fake blood. Things got weird and sticky just just the way we like it and the result is a real horror show.”

Over the span of six years zhOra have quickly become one of the most recognisable names in the burgeoning Irish metal scene. In this time the band has released one EP Feet Nailed to the Ground (2011) and their debut LP Almaz (2013), both releases garnering huge praise within the scene. Now in 2017, the band is set to undertake the next stage in their journey, Ethos, Pathos, Logos.

In the only predictable aspect of the band’s sonic trajectory, Ethos, Pathos, Logos finds the band once again putting themselves under their own microscope and refining their approach. With a lush cover designed by acclaimed Visionary Artist Jake Kobrin, the record is zhOra’s first back-to-back concept album, an hour long journey through past lives and cannibalism.

Pre-orders for Ethos, Pathos, Logos are available now via Big Cartel, Bandcamp, iTunes and all other digital outlets.

Catch zhOra throughout October:
October 27 – Central Arts, Waterford
October 28 – Fozzys, Clonmel
October 29 – Siege of Limerick

https://www.facebook.com/zhOramusic/
https://twitter.com/zhoramusic
http://zhora1.bandcamp.com/
http://zhora1.bigcartel.com/products

Zhora, “Infernal Liturgy”