Fierce & Zero T – Expose / Clandestine – (QRN2007)

Another week passes and we have a plethora of big releases and represses. The drum and bass scene has had and excellent 2016 and has shaped up to be a good year for quality music.

2016 has been a quieter year for Fierce & Zero T fans; so far we have got Going Clear/Profile and their debut as a duo on Metalheadz – Bonesmen/In Circles. That’s about to change drastically as we have QRN2007 Expose/Clandestine coming out this week, followed by QRN2008 and QRN2009 soon after. Things are about to pick up if you like your gritty rollers and bass driven smashers!

You have admit, if you see a Fierce & Zero T track on Redeye or Juno for pre-order, do you really have to listen to it to make a decision whether to buy it or not? You know what you are going get – in a good way! For me personally there are only a few labels that are buy-on-sight without listening and Quarantine sits pretty high on that list.

Back to this new upcoming release QRN2007 Expose/Clandestine, release number 6 in the Fierce & Zero T chronicles. It’s great to hear the quality from these two solid producers hasn’t waned – this is good for us as listeners who crave this type of DNB, as the scene is not flush with this type of rolling drum and bass.

Expose starts off with a 2-step beat and a melodic pad, making you think this is one of their mellower efforts like In Circles which came out on Metalheadz a few weeks back. When the track leads into the drop the drums cut out and you get chopped tape delayed vocal, then the 808 style bass thunders in with the drums. Even though the drums seem quite “2-steppy”, their clever percussion work that runs under the kick and snare gives that rolling breakbeat feeling; couple that with the head nod bass and you have a recipe for a tune that will drive a DJ set along quite nicely.

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Next we have Clandestine, a track that could easily be mistaken to be by Dom & Roland for Moving Shadow back in the early 2000s. It’s a great testament to the era that Fierce & Zero T are carrying the flag for that sound. You can hear the influences each producer bring to this track, from the classic “boom-cha” drum pattern, the dreamy strings from the intro, to the deep sub-bass and the distorted/filtered mid range stabs that hold the listener’s interest. For me this track would sound amazing in the mix with an amen tear-out tune at the height of the night!!

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There we have it, yet another on point release from Zero T & Fierce and Quarantine. As I’ve said before these two guys and the label fill a gap in the scene for music that’s just pure drums, bass and no frills. A combo that does what they do best and make unrelenting, gritty rollers and smashers. Let’s hope they carry on making music together for as long as their DJing schedules allow them, as we have been graced with some real good drum and bass.