Zao - The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here - [Ferret Music]

2006-09-07

One of hardcore's longest lasting bands, Zao are a very different beast than their first incarnation, however, unlike some other veteran bands, Zao seem to be marching into heavier and less listner-friendly terrain with this, their latest offering.

Main change here to the band's last release – The Funeral Of God, is the engineering skills of Steve Albini who took it upon himself to make this album sound different than anything the band has done before. Raw and dynamic, the album sounds almost like a live one, drums sound as live as can be, no crisp production values here, and it actually helps the album. Cancer Eater opens the proceedings with a tragic sounding clean guitar line before kicking in the noise and then breaking into Physician Heal Thyself, a fine example of just how heavy and dissonant the band is coming across throughout the album, the riffs have an epic feel to them that seems to suggest there's much more than just aggression here, while Vocalist Daniel Weyandt screams his lungs out in a variety of ear-splitting ways.

It's Hard Not To Shake With A Gun In Your Mouth offers some melodic vocals and clean passages and some rock N' Roll that add another ingredient to the hard-to-swallow mixture. Kingdom Of Thieves is one of the strongest cuts here, unapologetic aggression with smart clean passages, the song is a good example of what can keep fans of melodic metalcore off Zao, while being a reaffirmation of all that's good in the band's extreme take on the genre.

Killing Time 'Till Its Time To Die is one heavy track that still manages to incorporate some serious groove and an unexpected lead before emerging into a slow tempo breakdown, quite complex, the track is also a good example of how good is Martin Lunn's bass work on the album. There Is No Such Thing As Paranoia is a slower, more calculated riff-fest, sludgy and yet epic riffs, another great track.

All in all, Zao don’t make life easier on the listener, but after a couple of listening sessions this starts to make sense, it's certainly no easy listening melodic core, but it has a payoff if you're patient enough.

Alon Miasnikov