Zao

Item: The Funeral of God
Author: Kriss Stress

The Funeral of God

(2004)

Reviewed by Kriss Stress

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Ferret RecordsDecapolisOctober 2004

hardcore heavy metal metalcore post-hardcore

Zao are like hot dogs and hamburgers. In my case they are anyway. I grew up on them. Having listened to their earlier efforts in middle school; I was disappointed when they released Parade of Chaos in my senior year of high school. I was loyal, I was steadfast in my love for them, hell, I even defended them when they put out that half way train wreck of a record in the form of self-titled a couple years previous. Most people turned their backs at that point but not me. Parade of Chaos was good as a hard rock record, but it made evident that the days of Splinter Shards melodic hardcore and Liberate metalcore sheen were gone. The fateful day that they re-released All Else Failed in a newly recorded format is the day that I spat at their feet and turned my back. How could they? I still don't know, maybe they don't either.

After that (and even before), they became the Van Halens of the metalcore scene with a constant rotating cast of singers (well, it was only three, but it seemed like more since it happened so damn often) and public breakups. Around the turn of the year, it was announced that they had signed with Ferret Records. I along with several others breathed a gasp of collective hope. Maybe they had made a turn in the right direction. When vocalist Josh Ashworth and longtime drummer Jesse Smith (not the original like everyone thinks, he wasn't on the first demo) made their exit, all of us threw our hands in the air once again and walked away. Zao was the boy that cried wolf.

Fast forward to a few months later at Cornerstone Florida. I decided to attend Zao playing on the second stage simply out of boredom and having nothing to do. I already knew they had acquired a new rhythm section and welcomed longtime vocalist Dan Weyandt back into the fold, but I paid no attention. Their performance changed all of that. This was the tightest they'd played in years and to top it off, they were all smiling! SMILING! It seemed like they were actually a happy unit that was playing and enjoying each other and their audience. I walked away from that experience with a newfound enthusiasm looking forward to this new record of theirs slated for a mid-summer's release.

The Funeral of God is everything you wouldn't have expected from Zao over the last few years. It's not the perfect distillation of Where Blood and Fire and Liberate like many are touting it to be, but it's still an extremely solid record that's both well written musically and in lyrical concept. The record follows along a theologically scary theme: What if God gave up hope in us (as the human race) and just turned his back to leave us to our own devices? The music is heavy hitting and meshes perfectly with the lyrics. The new rhythm section is top notch and while the drumming isn't quite as flashy as Jesse Smith's, I doubt too many people care since that's one minor complaint in the greater whole of a record that far outdoes this band's past three years of efforts. A top contender for both one of this year's best records and biggest surprises.

3/4