Zach Adams is an independent Alaskan musician and has just dropped his debut album “Dead Man Walking”, which doubles as the soundtrack to their horror/fantasy novel of the same name. Adams is carving out his own space somewhere between alternative rock and industrial metal, with detours through garage rock whenever the mood strikes.
“The best concept albums make you forget you’re listening to separate songs.”
“Dead Man Walking” is an eleven-track journey through psychological breakdown and existential questioning. Adams has structured this as a concept album that follows a character’s mental deterioration, but never in a pretentious manner. Every song feels intentional, like it belongs exactly where it is in the sequence. “Apocalypsis, Pt. 1 & Pt. 2” opens things with this sense of reality falling apart, setting up everything that follows. The production throughout maintains this edge that works perfectly with the material.
The album’s emotional range is impressive for a debut. “Becoming Hollow (Am I?)” strips things down to examine identity crisis and self-doubt. Then “The House Always Wins” channels that inner frustration and turns it into something bigger about how the system works against regular people.
“Petrichorus” stands out as one of the album’s most interesting songs, built around this concept of rain’s smell and how memory works. It’s the closest thing to a breather on the entire album, but even then, there’s this underlying current of loss running through it. Adams has this ability to find beauty in darkness without making it feel forced.
The experimental “Gelatin Skeleton” might be the album’s strangest track. It’s the kind of song that could easily feel out of place, but Adams makes it work by committing fully to the weirdness. This is where his willingness to ignore conventional song structure really pays off.
“They Want You to Be Afraid!” functions as the album’s most direct political statement, but it never feels preachy. “Drown” uses drowning as a metaphor for abandonment and loneliness, while “When Wishing Still Helped One” brings everything full circle with fairy tale references.
For a debut album, “Dead Man Walking” shows great artistic vision. Adams has announced himself as an artist worth watching, someone willing to take risks and follow their creative instincts wherever they lead.
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