Escape Velocity

The Hipgnosis-style cover art blasts you right back in time to the glory days of prog rock excess but, despite their reliance on old-school analog synthesizers, Zombi’s shimmering menace could only exist post-post-rock. They achieve the same kind of satisfying tension-release with their cascading keyboards that predecessors like Slint and Pelican found with their guitars, only the layered production gives this that all-important all-encompassing atmosphere. “Slow Oscillations” and “Shrunken Heads” are masterpieces of brutalist architecture.