Review Summary: There Is Such A Thing As Classic Metalcore
Always breaking apart, reuniting, or rearranging, Zao still manages to stay significant in the metal world. Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation, Zao’s first album, was hardcore punk. After that, Zao then progressed into melodic metalcore, with albums such as Parade of Chaos and (Self-Titled), then evolved into one of the foremost metalcore bands in the history of the genre with classic records such as their 2004 release The Funeral of God.
Since Daniel Weyandt’s appearance as vocalist and lyricist for Zao on Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest, their brand of metalcore has had a distinctive flavor to it, separating it from the pack. Weyandt’s trademark screams are immediately recognizable. However, on The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here, Dan and his then-lineup of Zao: guitarist Scott Mellinger, bassist Marty Lunn, and drummer Jeff Gretz, stray away from their splintering metalcore sound to a new, more crushing sound. It’s as if you dropped all previous Zao albums into a box and listened to them fight to the death.
On the accompanying DVD for The Fear… Special Edition, Marty Lunn states that with this album Zao “wants to create an album full of songs that everyone likes” instead of an album “with songs everybody likes, and songs everybody doesn’t like”, and in all honesty they did a damn good job of it. None of the songs are overly short, neither are they epic, none with multiple long sections. All the songs are single-worthy, catchy, and hook-filled. This isn’t just metalcore, this is THE metalcore.
To give an overview of the album, it literally does sound like Zao in a box, like ferrets with instruments thrashing around in a pen. The opening track Cancer Eater begins with demure guitars, giving a familiar creepy feeling that often surrounds Zao albums like a fog. But then Daniel Weyandt’s screams burst in, sounding as if he’s yelling into a wall. The vocals throughout the album don’t sound smothered, as much as muffled (overproduced? underproduced?).
Specific album highlights are:
Everything You Love Will Soon Fly Away: A soaring chorus of overlapping Weyandt shrieks, pushed to the high limit of Dan’s voice. Scott Mellinger brings out a straightforward but sweet high chugging riff, which complements Dan perfectly, despite simplicity.
Killing Time Til It’s Time to Die: Here we find Zao’s new influence on their sound: grindcore. Dan Weyandt mixes his scream with his new-found growl for a driving verse and bellows a pummeling chorus, and Scott works his fingers with the rapid, grind-ish riffs, and the squealing solo. Jeff Gretz gets to show off the most on this track, pounding his set to death.
Pudgy Young Blondes With Lobotomy Eyes: A pointed lecture towards your stereotypical anorexic, spray-tan, Paris Hilton wannabe, Pudgy Young Blondes retains the grind of Killing Time, but it’s a less obvious influence. The song is lighter, but no less catchy. Dan Weyandt’s screams return to their towering pitch for most of it, and Scott Mellinger pumps out riff after impressive riff.
My Love My Love (We’ve Come Back From the Dead): Scott really does seem to be trying extremely hard to show off his chops; he rips out a chunky riff, riddled with twiddly bits of improvisational string-plucking. The song is about a couple murdered on their wedding day, who come back to exact revenge on their killers. Vengeful zombies is a strange topic for a (supposedly) Christian band.
American Sheets On the Deathbed: More twiddling string plucks from Scott, between hammering grind-lite riffs, similar in style to Pudgy Young Blondes. Dan returns to his roar, mincing his way through an anti-political seethe.
The remainder of the album is catchy, technical, heavy, and everything else metalcore should be. The five tracks above are simply the cream of the crop. However, it does sound as if Zao are trying very hard to achieve admiration for this album. Scott Mellinger shows off his chops as if flexing his biceps, and Dan Weyandt varies his usually steady scream up and down the spectrum to new high and low pitches. Every song could be a single. There’s even grind tossed in. Sellout? Possibly. But the music is really great, and still retains the true flavor of Zao.
The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here is near-perfect. It’s not Zao’s best work, but it’s damn close. Consistently catchy and heavy, with a grindcore tang, Fear merits an impressive 4.5/5.
Recommended: The album in its entirety, but with particular emphasis on the five tracks described above.
