Zao
Liberate Te Ex Inferis
Reviewed by David Bixler
I am going to admit something. I absolutely love Zao, and they have remained one of my favorite bands, even through various lineup changes and a quite extreme musical progression. And yet, I wasn't sure that this album would deliver like their last release, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, did. After listening to this disc several times though, that fear was quashed. This CD sees Zao cover even more new ground, which I thought might not be possible to accomplish. I believe I can best describe this as black metalcore, as the vocals, especially when going full-thrust, remind me a lot of Extol, and the music is extremely brutal metalcore with a strong emphasis on the metal. Zao seamlessly and seemingly without effort transitions between slower, more melodic sections and all-out extreme metal riffage. The different parts mix very well together, and the soundscapes which they produce are crafted quite nicely. A very nice example is in the song "Savannah," where they are going at 100 miles an hour and suddenly stop on a dime and transition into a lead bass line with backing drums, accompanied by a big drop in volume, and then they again seamlessly switch into high gear again. What makes this so cool is that almost every song is like this. Liberate... also has a bit of a spooky, dark feel to it. The title is Latin for "Save yourself from Hell," and the theme of the disc comes from Dante's The Inferno, as the ten songs are paired into the five circles of Hell, which Dante describes in his Divine Comedy. The disc starts with a killer intro that begins slowly, gradually building and becoming more chaotic while remaining at a slow tempo, finally dropping back off and ending with a mysterious-sounding voice sample before segueing into the next track at full throttle. This sets the mood for the entire CD, as it is dark and moody. This is also sensed in the lyrics. "Autopsy" begins: "And what shall I do / I try to speak and words stop short of my tongue / They make their way back to my thoughts / Still crafted by a still soul," and it ends with "IF THESE SCARS COULD SPEAK," which also happens to be the title of the following track. Phrases like "I desire the end / The touch of Armageddon / This world encased in flames..." (from "Desire the End") speak of the despair that Hell obviously will be. Zao speaks bluntly in all their songs; there is no sugar coating of the message anywhere. The last track on the disc is an instrumental, which, though not sounding quite as haunting as the finale of Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, does a very good job in ending the CD appropriately. Overall, I just can't recommend this disc enough. I'll admit that it took a few listens for me to decide what I thought of it, but I have been hooked since. Zao is making a name for themselves in the extreme scene, and this album is a good one to do so with.