Alaskan artist turns isolation into innovation with a genre-defying soundtrack to their dark fantasy novel
Emerging from Alaska’s stark and windswept landscapes, Zach Adams arrives with a striking debut that fuses the visceral power of progressive rock with the rich depth of speculative fiction. Their first album, Dead Man Walking, is more than a record—it’s a conceptual soundtrack to Adams’ self-authored 2023 horror/fantasy novel of the same name. Together, the two works form an immersive, multimedia journey through chaos, memory, and survival.
Built from the ground up as a self-produced labor of love, Dead Man Walking is the result of years of relentless creativity and artistic solitude. Adams channels the brutal winters and remote vastness of Alaska into layered soundscapes and melancholic atmospheres that evoke both isolation and inner reckoning. Guitar riffs surge like avalanches, while synth textures and ambient patterns, recorded with Adams’ favorite Doctor Who–inspired delay pedal, provide moments of eerie calm. The result is a record that lives somewhere between doom and wonder, marrying heavy metal’s raw power with cinematic progressions and unconventional song structures.
The album doesn’t just tell a story—it scores one. Each track mirrors a specific moment or character arc from the novel. The title track doubles as the theme for the protagonist and a cryptic message from his nemesis, while “Drown” sonically embodies psychological collapse. The emotional dynamics swing from quiet introspection to climactic explosions, echoing the narrative’s twists and moral complexities. And with every progression and time signature shift, Adams asserts their refusal to be confined by genre or convention.
What makes Dead Man Walking especially compelling is its uncompromising DIY spirit. Unshackled by label expectations or outside influence, Adams crafts every element—from lyric to lead line—as part of a singular, controlled vision. That creative autonomy comes at a cost: long production timelines, financial obstacles, and the emotional weight of navigating two demanding art forms. But the payoff is a body of work that feels whole, personal, and fiercely original.
Critics have already taken note. One listener dubbed closing track “Phantom Love” (featuring Samantha Palisoc) “like the Beatles on antidepressants,” while others draw parallels between Adams’ narrative voice and authors like Jim Butcher and Douglas Adams. With a second novel and companion album in development, Dead Man Walking may only be the first chapter in what Adams calls The Ivyverse—a connected world of stories and sounds still waiting to unfold.
Zach Adams invites you into that world with open wounds and open arms. This is more than music. It’s myth-making. And it starts here.
