Zao (metalcore band)

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Zao
Daniel Weyandt 2004 in Karlsruhe
Daniel Weyandt 2004 in Karlsruhe
General information
Genre (s) Metalcore
founding 1994
Website www.zaoonline.net
Founding members
Shawn Jonas (until 1997)
Roy Goudy (until 1997)
Mic Cox (until 1997)
Jesse Smith (until 2004)
Current occupation
singing
 Daniel Weyandt (since 1997)
Electric guitar
 Russ Cogdell (since 1997)
Electric guitar
 Scott Mellinger (since 1999)
Electric bass
 Marty Lunn (since 2005)
Drums
 Jeff Gretz (2004–2007 since 2008)
former members
Electric bass
 Brett Detar (1997-1999)
Drums
 Josh Walters (2007)

Zao ( Gr .: "Live") is a band founded in 1994 and based in Pennsylvania , which is considered a pioneer of the Christian metalcore scene. For a long time only operating in the underground , the music group first managed to attract greater attention with their seventh studio album The Funeral of God , released in 2004 .

The constantly changing line-up is typical of the band. This leads to the current situation that not a single original founding member is part of the band anymore.

While Killswitch Engage is counted among the spearheads of metalcore in its more melodic and mass-compatible variety, Zao is considered the figurehead of the more extreme, often cacophonic and overall rather bulky antipole.

Band history

In 1995 Shawn Jonas, Roy Goudy, Mic Cox and Jesse Smith released their debut album All Else Failed as Zao on Steadfast Records . Musically it is influenced by bands like Strife and Earth Crisis , but the content is more about biblical themes. In 1997 the second album The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation followed via Tooth & Nail Records .

A year later, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest was released through Solid State . The album was the first with the new singer Daniel Weyandt, in addition Russ Cogdell and Brett Detar replaced their predecessors on electric guitar and electric bass. The strong stylistic change and the overall move away from the tight corset of hardcore let The Phantom Tollbooth come to the end: “ Forget their past albums; they don't matter ”(in German, for example: “ Forget your old albums; they don't matter anymore ” ).

In 1999 the album Liberate Te Ex Inferis was released , on which Rob Horner played the electric bass, as Brett Detar dropped out in favor of his second band The Juliana Theory . Liberate Te Ex Inferis is designed as a concept album, which, inspired by the first part of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy , The Inferno , deals with five deadly sins . Based on five of the nine circles of hell from the Divine Comedy, the album is divided into five sections:

  1. Circle I: Limbo (German: Limbo or Limbus )
  2. Circle II: The Lustful (dt .: The voluptuous )
  3. Circle III: The Gluttonous (German: Die Schlemmer )
  4. Circle IV: The Hoarders and the Spendthrifts (dt .: The miser and spendthrift )
  5. Circle V: The Wrathful ( Eng .: the angry souls )

The Latin title of the publication, which can roughly be translated as "Free yourself from hell" or "Free yourself from hell" is grammatically incorrect - the imperative "Liberate" is a plural form, while the following "Te" is a plural form Is singular form . Correctly it should read either “Libera Te Ex Inferis” (for the singular) or “Liberate Vos Ex Inferis” (for the plural). However, the title was borrowed from the film Event Horizon - At the Edge of the Universe , from which several sound samples are used in the album; including the words "Liberate Te Ex Inferis".

In 2001 the (Self-Titled) titled fifth album was released. Again there were major changes in the line-up, because both Russ Cogdell and Rob Horner had left the band. Shrunk to only three members, the band, which consists of Daniel Weyandt (vocals), Scott Mellinger (guitar / bass) and Jesse Smith (drums, guitar, vocals), recorded the album. The result is the band's most experimental record to date with a multitude of electronic gadgets, sound paintings and melodic interludes. The lyrical, very pictorial side of the band moved further into the foreground.

In the following, Corey Darst replaced the singer Daniel Weyandt. This could not reach the intensity of its predecessor, especially in live performances, and so Zao broke up in the middle of a concert. Daniel Weyandt returned and the band was able to record the sixth album Parade of Chaos in 2002 .

All Else Failed 2003 , released the following year, is a re-recorded version of the debut album with a different track listing . It should unite the musical beginnings with the current approach of the band.

Shortly thereafter, Joshua Ashworth came as a replacement for Weyandt, who dropped out again, but did not stay long in the band. Even before Ashworth was replaced by Weyandt, Jesse Smith, the last remaining founding member, left Zao. In addition to the newcomers Shawn Koschik as bassist and Stephen Peck as drummer, Scott Mellinger and Russ Cogdell were again part of the cast.

With Legendary appeared during which a best-of album for Solid State. It was intended to trace the band's path from a hardcore group to a genre-breaking, progressive metal / hard / noise core formation , which is often ascribed an atmospheric resemblance to Neurosis , but also a Converge- typical unrest and riffs and vocals reminiscent of Carcass .

In 2004 the seventh album The Funeral of God was released via Ferret Music in the United States and Roadrunner Records in Europe and Asia. The album was in the Trax East Studios ( New Jersey included) and Eric Rachel produced. It is a concept album and revolves around the question of what would happen if God , full of disappointment, turned away from humanity and decided to "die". In the last piece, Psalm of the City of the Dead , Sara George sings a woman for the first time as a contrast to Daniel Weyandt's throaty screaming song. Furthermore, catchy mid-tempo passages interrupt the sometimes brutal riff thunderstorm and the many mosh parts . This leads to greater attention away from the underground; This is even followed by occasional airplay on MTV and sometimes outstanding reviews in well-known magazines such as the American Metal Hammer .

Originally the album was supposed to be named Live ... From the Funeral of God according to a song name, but the management feared that fans could mistakenly assume a live recording, which is why the title was shortened.

Zao occurred then in the Ferret Music Tour and tour Praise the War Machine as headliners , and played many concerts outside the United States, among others, Dillinger Escape Plan , Unearth , Bleeding Through and Hellfest . Meanwhile, the band carousel continues to turn: Jeff Gretz came to Zao as drummer, Marty Lunn became bassist. On November 15, 2005, the DVD Zao: The Lesser Lights of Heaven was released , which traces the history of the band with numerous concert recordings.

With The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here the next album was released in Europe on June 12th of 2006. The album, recorded exclusively on analog tapes at the Electrical Audio Studio in Chicago , was produced by Steve Albini . In this way, the raw energy, which the band was attested again and again at concerts, should be captured. This has succeeded insofar as music critics consider The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here to be the band's most aggressive and unadorned work to date. Thematically, the album deals with situations of loss of control.

At the beginning of 2007, drummer Jeff Gretz, who joined in 2004, was replaced by Josh Walters ( The Juliana Theory ). However, he only stayed with the band for a few months until May of the same year and then left Zao again due to time constraints.

Drummer Jeff Gretz has been a member of the band again since 2008. According to their own information, the band had their first appearance in Pittsburgh on July 3, 2008 within the past two years.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Label
1995 All Else Failed Steadfast
1997 The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation Solid state
1998 Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
1999 Liberate Te Ex Inferis
2001 Self-titled
2002 Parade of Chaos
2003 All Else Failed
2004 The Funeral of God Ferret
2006 The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here
2009 Awake?
2016 The Well-Intentioned Virus Observed / Observer

EPs and splits

vinyl

  • 1995: The Tie That Binds
  • 1996: Treadwater
  • 1997: The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation
  • 1998: Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest

Zao have started to reissue their old releases on vinyl through Broken Circles.

  • 2010: Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest
  • 2011: Liberate Te Ex Inferis
  • 2011: (Self-titled)
  • 2012: Parade of Chaos
  • 2016: The Well-Intentioned Virus

Demos

  • 1994: Author
  • 1995: Sustained

Songs

  • Within a dream
  • 2002: Black Coffee : Cover of the Black Flag song on Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag and also part of the Japanese release of The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here
  • 2002: Sancho / Crimson Kroll
  • 2003: 21st Century Thriller : Recorded with Joshua Ashworth's voice for the 2003 demo, later re-recorded with different lyrics for the album The Funeral of God as The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • 2003: She's Not Leaving, She's Not Breathing : Recorded with Joshua Ashworth's voice for the 2003 demo, later re-recorded with different lyrics for the album The Funeral of God as Praise the War Machine
  • 2004: The Romance of the Southern Spirit : On the Japanese edition of The Funeral of God
  • 2016: Drifting Shadows in Walking Dreams : Released as a free Flexi-Disk with Decibel

Other publications

Compilations

  • A Testament to Broken Walls - Sancho (previously unreleased, with the (Self-Titled) lineup, later re-recorded with Corey Darst as The Icarus Complex )
  • Black on Black: A Tribute to Black Flag - Black Coffee (previously unreleased)
  • Music on the Brain Vol. 2 ( Smartpunk ) - The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • Point Break Vol. 1 - Angel Without Wings
  • Progression Through Aggression Vol. 2 - The Last Revelation (The Last Prophecy)
  • Songs From The Penalty Box - Exchange
  • Songs From The Penalty Box Vol. 2 - A Fall Farewell
  • This is Solid State Vol. 1 - To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory
  • This is Solid State Vol. 2 - Trashcanhands (Keyboard Coward)
  • This is Solid State Vol. 3 - The Icarus Complex
  • This is Solid State Vol. 4 - Resistance
  • Tooth & Nail 10th Anniversary Box Set
    • (disc 1) Ravage ritual
    • (disc 2) Savannah
    • (disc 4) 5 year winter
    • (disc 5) Parade of Chaos
  • Tooth & Nail 4th Anniversary Box Set
    • (disc 4) Repressed
  • Van's Warped Tour '05 - The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • What on Earth ?! Compilation
  • Cheapskates- Harder Side - Circle II The Lustful: If These Scars Could Speak
  • New #### Vol. 10 - The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • Razor: Music From The Cutting Edge (Vol. 7) - The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • Under the Gun DVD - The Rising End (The First Prophecy)
  • The Best of Taste of Chaos Vol. 2 - Physician Heal Thyself

Videos

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Core Classics # 12 - Zao. The Funeral Of God . In: Silence Magazine. November 16, 2016, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  2. ^ ZAO Parts Ways With Drummer . ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. blabbermouth.net, May 4, 2007  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.roadrunnerrecords.com
  3. ↑ Official profile of the band Myspace (see also: blog entries published there)
  4. ^ Mason Beard: Zao Pre-Orders for Upcoming EP. In: Indie Vision Music. September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ a b Review: The Funeral of God . Scene point blank. July 16, 2004. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  6. ^ Albert Mudrian: Zao Unveil "Drifting Shadows in Walking Dreams" Via Decibel Flexi Series . Decibel. November 14, 2016. Retrieved January 10, 2017.