After the EP ‘Operating On All Frequencies’ Destination Zero comes with their second effort: ‘Music For The Mentally Ill’. After winning some studio time from several contests they recorded this full length. You don’t have to be that ill to like this music. On the contrary: this music can be picked up by a large public, because of the influences from several music styles.

I was surprised to hear the progression Destination Zero has made. On their first EP it was a lot of Pitchshifter influences, with vocals that were rap as well as standard singing. On this CD everything sounds more balanced. The Pitchshifter influences are still there, but combined with Asian Dub Foundation and even Tool (vocals); Destination Zero is the perfect middle way between these bands.

Especially Sanders has improved with his vocal lines, he sounds pretty sure of himself and combined with the beats this can be a perfect summer CD or dance CD (‘Color Vs Color’, ‘Hysterical’).

The first songs are impressive. They have intelligent beats and percussion rhythms, but remain catchy because of the refrains and the vocals keep everything together. It is difficult to stay still while listening to this album.

Nevertheless a minus: after the first 5 numbers, some saturation starts to kick in. Not that the other songs are bad, they are still pretty good, but maybe it is also because ‘1642’ is the best song on this record with an incredibly catchy refrain and some Toolish lines (the ‘didn’t die part’.) Also: the remixes are somewhat too much. But in the drum and bass genre it is pretty usual to put a few remixes at the end of the CD.

With an international tour in the expectancy, the future can look bright for Destination Zero. This record is an important step to larger rooms and possibly a label. In the meantime we can be proud that we have a Dutch follow-up to Pitchshifter.