ZUD: The Return Of Portland, Maine’s Blackened Rock’N’Roll Outlaws

In less than two weeks, after a year-and-a-half hiatus, Portland, Maine’s blackened rock’n’roll outfit, ZUD, will return to the stage, headlining day two of the first Shadow Woods Metal Festival on September 26th – the new mid-Atlantic, open-air, camping-based metal fest — in White Hall Maryland, just north of Baltimore. With the likes of Midnight, Occultation, Wormreich, Dreadlords and Sangharsha and over two-dozen others at the two-day event, Shadow Woods can be expected to be a game changer in festivals held on the East Coast.

In regards to the fest, ZUD frontman Justin Curtsinger states: “I think this fest is going to really wake up a lot of folks who gravitate towards this type of music into realizing that there is more to this stuff then this mundane excuse of a ‘metal’ lifestyle of getting trashed and watching horror movies or Metalocalypse or driving a Scion to MDF. I know there have been fests like this done semi-successfully on this scale out west and there have been attempts at it east of Chicago, but I think Shadows Woods is going to be something else all together. It is an honor to be a part of it.” More info and tickets for Shadow Woods Metal Fest can be found HERE.

For those a bit further north, there will also be one more live performance from ZUD for 2015; Halloween Night at Geno’s Rock Club in Portland, Maine. Support will come from Sangharsha (Kathmandu via NYC) and two other Portland locals, Sylvia and Mugwort.

“Both of these shows are going to be pretty special for ZUD,” Curtsinger continues. “ZUD has been on hiatus for two reasons, which maybe I’ll get into some other time, but, what matters for now is that it is back and ready to keep exploring further through this weird maze of obscure roads where it left off. I feel that the new lineup is much stronger than before and I am psyched to not only play these two shows with the new guns on board, but to see where we go together over the winter with new material. It has been a very long and strange journey already, but my gut tells me that what has been told so far for ZUD is only the first chapter or two of a much longer and insanely wild story… While we will NOT be performing any new material live this Fall, everyone can definitely expect some very unexpected surprises which will be breaking a lot of these supposed ‘extreme metal rules or laws’ which seem to almost govern what is ‘trve’ and what isn’t, or whatever other bullshit in extreme metal, more and more as time goes on. Otherwise, stay tuned for new stuff in 2016.”

ZUD Live:
9/26/2015 Shadow Woods Metal Festival – White Hall, MD [info]
10/31/2015 Geno’s Rock Club – Portland, ME w/ Sylvia, Sangharsha, Mugwort [info]

For those unfamiliar with ZUD‘s unique sound which somehow manages to seamlessly blend the likes of Necrovore, old Mayhem and old Bathory with that of Roky Erickson, Van Halen, Blue Oyster Cult and even Heart. Their debut album, The Good, the Bad and the Damned…, was recorded and mixed by Todd Hutchinson (Falls of Rauros, AOK Suicide Forest, East Of The Wall) at Acadia Recording Company in Portland, Maine and mastered by Tore Stjerna (Watain, Repugnant) at Necromorbus Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The Good, The Bad And The Damned was self-released on the Summer Solstice of 2013 in a limited run of 333 hand-numbered gatefold digipak CDs. There are a few copies still available direct from the band HERE. There will also be copies for sale at both upcoming shows, but expect this limited release to be gone VERY soon.

The Good, The Bad And The Damned still sits on Cvlt Nation for streaming at THIS LOCATION.

ZUD:
Justin Curtsinger (ex-Gift of Tongues) – vox, guitar
Darron Brown (Mome, ex-Sanctioned For A Riot) – drums
Nate Manning (D.N.A., ex-Cruel Hand, ex-Outbreak) – lead guitar
Tim Walker (ifandit) – bass

“… a lot more fun to listen to than Watain.” – Decibel

“Definitely unique and a little bizarre.” – Metal Injection

“The Good, the Bad and the Damned is one of the coolest albums I have come across this year… a style I didn’t know I wanted until I came across this release, and now I just want to keep going back to it.” – Cosmos Gaming

“…a sick and twisted mix of classic riffs and black metal evil.” – Cvlt Nation

“…a jet-fueled charge of something like first-wave black metal combined with filthy rock ‘n’ roll. The drumming is off the hook, the riffs are more fun than a barrel of monkeys on meth, and the clean guitar solo is a banshee screamer. The vocals are also evil, vicious, and intelligible. Refreshingly different metal…” – No Clean Singing

“… like Quorthon fronting Van Halen…” – Ave Noctum

“…tuneful, economical and heartfelt – no fret wanking, just wild abandon and soul.” – Black Insect Laughter