Planet Z

Music mastermind Jan Zehrfeld certainly does not shy away from difficult musical experiments. This has always been a fundamental principle of Panzerballett. After the success of the last album X-Mas Death Jazz, one was left wondering if it could possibly be topped and justly so. The extremely talented drummer Sebastian Lanser had set the bar very high with his intricate drum arrangements. That being said, Jan Zehrfeld came up with a new and crazy plan: to bring together and collaborate with not just one, but with several best of the best drummers on the following album. The surprises and reinvention of Zehrfeld do not end there: in addition to composing and recording his own pieces, Jan also recorded custom-made works of highly esteemed composers – doing so in the upmost level of perfection. A handful of world-class drummers from the circle of prog, metal, jazz and fusion legends such as Frank Zappa, Devin Townsend, Meshuggah and Allan Holdsworth are all performing on Planet Z. Jan Zehrfeld succeeds in combining rhythmic lunacy and compositional shamelessness in one “unheard of” album. What Jan “Z” does together with drummers Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati (Planet X), Grammy Award winner Morgan Ågren – ennobled by Zappa, Gergo Borlai (Tribal Tech) as well as regional representatives Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, Blotted Science) and Andy Lind on Planet Z once again pushes boundaries and makes the impossible possible.

Not only is the musical performance at the upmost level, the production and sound of the album are as well. Despite an alternating line-up throughout the album, sound engineer Victor Bullok succeeds in creating a very homogenous sound throughout the album resulting in a uniform sound. An astonishing achievement, considering that all musicians have recorded themselves.

Planet Z is quintessentially state of the art of what is musically possible in the field of tension between jazz, fusion and heavy metal. It is simply a captivating album and an absolute must for prog, jazz and metal fans.