With the instantaneous everywhere at once of electric speed, many of today¹s buzz bands can be considered analogous with digital media, downloading themselves into the collective conscious, only to be unloaded just as quickly. In an age when music is as disposable and transferable as a bad idea, it¹s nice to know there are bands out there like Ozenza.Take, for example, the band¹s debut full-length, Hear Was Here, a long-playing record of the band¹s three-year evolution from side-project to heavy music heavyweights, recorded in part with analog equipment and pressed into 180 grams of clear vinyl, out now on Friction Records. From the foreboding tones of instrumental prologue ³Maximum² into the burrowing fray of ³Your Small Hands,² it is clear that the album, like the way it was created and disseminated, is a deliberate, swaggering testament of a band committed to and comfortable in its own ominous vision.Sprouting from the frozen ground of West Michigan during the first thaws of 2004, Matt Younker (guitar, vocals) and Josh Stacey (drums) first formed the group as an alternative to their work in progressive-hardcore act and Grand Rapids-scene staple Ren the Director, taking up each other¹s instrument and working in the opposite direction of their precursor.Where Ren the Director bowled over audiences with technical maneuvers, mashed-up timing and decorative riffs, Younker and Stacey built from the ground up, syncing guitar and drum into a droning, bowel-shaking foundation that boasts more of its very existence than its essence. With the addition of Younker¹s then fiancé (now wife) Britt on bass  her first band and try at the instrument, Mike Brown (formerly of Testadura) on guitar and an enigmatic front-man known only as ³The Father,² the band started gigging, quickly making a name for itself on the local scene and leaving its brain-rattling stamp on ear drums around Michigan. In the summer of 2005, the young band hit the road for a week with sludge heroes EYEHATEGOD, opening shows throughout the Midwest.The band¹s following was growing, but as it constructed a mighty tower of Babel, unified in sound and spirit, the gods grew jealous. Changes occurred. ³The Father² was called elsewhere. Without his prophetic screeching and wailing, Younker and Brown were left to handle the vocals and develop a simpler, rhythmic style of delivery. In 2006, Brown left. Undeterred, the band moved forward as trio, stripping down its sound to the bone but never seeming to lack for it. That same year Ozenza recorded ³Revelation/Revolution² for For The Sick, a tribute to EYEHATEGOD, with Sanford Parker of Minsk and Buried at Sea. They continued writing, gigging and seeking collaborators. Soon Adam Duron (Gavin Black, Ren The Director, Testadura) came on board as second guitarist. In spring 2007, three full years since its inception, the band started work on its debut album at Younker¹s home recording studio The White Lodge, a converted pole barn outfitted with an impressive collection of microphones and analog tape machine. The band also brought on Christian Kremo (Morale, The Apostles) on guitar so Younker could focus on singing. The band took its time, tweaking its songs until everyone was sure they had an album they liked. Whether anything else came of it, they did not care.The end result is a measured assault that brings to mind some the best elements of fellow decibel masters High on Fire, The Melvins, Kyuss, EYEHATEGOD, Torche and Queens of the Stone Age. Covering themes of war, attempted murder, vanity, fundamentalism and consumer gluttony, the record would be heavy even if played on acoustic instruments. Mastered by Al McAvoy, the album is now available on vinyl and iTunes through Friction Records, and the band is scheduling regional tours.
