As much as I'm a fan of Zao, I'm sick of hearing every Christian metal band and their mother copping Dan Weyandt's raspy monotone vocals. Dan's own vocals are obviously influenced by bands like Carcass and that's fine, because that's exactly what it is: influence, not imitation. It's not like there's only one way to do raspy/screamy vocals. Listen to Strongarm's Advent of A Miracle, Stretch Armstrong, or Frodus. While all these guys are screaming, the voices are all distinct and expressive. On In The Face of War's 3-song demo cd, the band draws on all the main genres of the punk/hardcore scene since the mid-90's, ie: Epitaph/Fat style punk, metallic hardcore, indie, etc... which they do pretty seamlessly. Musically I'm interested, and the clean vocals are great, but man-o-man do those metal vocals annoy me. Besides the fact of me being at the end of my rope with the Zao-worship, they only fit in on the second song, but just sound out of place on the other two.
Similar sounding releases
2002City of CaterpillarCity of Caterpillar
2002Love Is RedAll That's Ahead Points To Forever
1997ConvergePetitioning the Empty Sky
2003The Redemption SongPlays Dead in Stereo
2004ComityThe Deus Ex-Machina As a Forgotten Genius (Andy Warhol Sucks)
2004The Nation BlueDamnation
