zao - liberate te ex inferis

label: solid state
released: 1999

as a tribute to the french prog rock band from the early 70s....
what?
oh.
as a tribute to the JAMES BOND villain....
what?
stop interrupting me.
fine.
as a tribute to the mountain located in northern japan....

ok.
enough.

i remember the day when i was turned onto this band/album. it sparked my (limited) interest in all of that christian hardcore business (the other bands being: early embodyment...training for utopia...a little norma jean...living sacrifice...and the reaction was always funny when i'd mentioned to the people that would hear me listening to them that the band was signed to a christian record label..."whaaaaaaa?!" was the general consensus). there was a music store that i would frequent. i'd struck up a friendship with the owner. we had some band likings in common. one day i came into the store and the song "skin like winter" was being played over the stereo system. there was one other person in the store at the time. one of those very perturbed teenager looking types that was obviously looking for some original (not re-released - underlined) limp bizkit album. so i walk in and give the owner (who was always there) a nod and headed over to peruse the magazines. i was kinda sorta getting into what was being played. and then i was introduced to the songs "intro" and "savannah" (he'd obviously started the album over...also: those 2 songs should never EVER be split up). i was hearing neurosis (the band). i was hearing EVENT HORIZON samples. i was hearing carcass-like vocals. color me intrigued.

and from that day on i was labeled a zao fan.
and yes.
even the SELF-TITLED album.
admittedly it's a little touch and go after that.
but still a fan.

and not that any of you really care.....
there's more to the music store story.
after going in there multiple times and having multiple conversations with the owner it turned out that we were related.
he was a cousin.
he'd randomly showed me his driver's license for some reason during a visit and viola!
it was nice knowing that i shared a bloodline with someone that had good taste in music.

and that is my zao story,kids.

one last thing: i'm not a fan of the band's first vocalist as he sounded like an angry kid going through puberty while being strangled.
maybe he didn't want to do his homework.
maybe he didn't want to mow the lawn.
something like that.
we'll never know because he doesn't want to talk about it geeeeeeez!

DL