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Zao - "Awake?"

Ferret Music / Hellfest Records - May 15th, 2009

 

01. 1,000,000 Outstretched Arms of Nothing (3:38)
02. Entropica (3:36)
03. The Eyes Behind the Throne (3:35)
04. Human Cattle Masses Marching Forward (3:38)
05. Romance of the Southern Spirit [new version] (4:50)
(previously on Japanese version of "The Funeral of God")
06. What Will You Find? (3:44)
07. Awake? (3:40)
08. Quiet Passenger Pt. 1 (4:00)
09. Reveal (4:53)
10. Quiet Passenger Pt. 2 / The World Caved In (6:52)

Total Playtime: 42:26

ZAO - "Awake?" - Biography 2009

 

"If the melodic end of the kingdom has been taken by Killswitch Engage then the extreme end belongs to Zao. No question." - Metal Hammer Magazine

Awake? will sound immediately familiar to anyone who has followed Zao’s convoluted, controversial and altogether exciting career, with its signature all-out heaviness and beautifully simple memorability. Awake? stands easily beside the best and brightest of the Zao catalog, with the kind of production (courtesy of guitarist Scott Mellinger himself together with As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman) that Zao has always deserved.

Thunderous, epic, and full of passion, Zao (Greek for “alive”) is driven by vocals that exorcise singer Daniel Weyandt’s demons as if his life depended on the songs. His words reshape a personal history wrought with tragedy, suicide and death into beautiful musings that connected with their brutal honesty and naked self-observation. Mellinger, the band’s primary songwriter, adds melodic vocals as well.

Zao’s storied career was documented on the two-disc The Lesser Lights Of Heaven DVD and the luminaries of today’s heavy music scene are well aware of their debt to the band. Underoath and Unearth opened for Zao. Thrice, As I Lay Dying and Demon Hunter love Zao. Matt Heafy from Trivium joined the band onstage during a tour together.

Zao’s hometown of Greensburg, Pennsylvania isn’t known for many things besides being in close proximity to the mall where George A. Romero filmed Dawn Of The Dead. And that isolation has allowed the band to steer clear of trends.

Zao’s original incarnation formed in the mid-90s with evangelical zeal. When that version of the band fell apart, Zao as it would come to change the course of heavy music was born. Recently hailed by Alternative Press as “one of the most important albums of 1998, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest took the conventions of hardcore and heavy metal and turned them upside down.

When Scott Mellinger joined Zao for the following year’s Liberate te ex Inferis, it began a song-writing partnership with Weyandt that persists to this day. Self-Titled was written and recorded by Dan, Scott and Jesse Smith (the only remaining holdover from the pre-Blood&Fire days) and featured a vast amount of experimentation with electronics, dark soundscapes, and melodic interludes. “Five Year Winter” continues to be one of Zao’s most popular songs in the live setting. The trio created Parade Of Chaos together as well, pushing the envelope even further.

Zao’s first album for Ferret Music, The Funeral of God, was recorded as a five-piece with producer Eric Rachel (Atreyu, Every Time I Die). The album became Zao’s biggest selling record and saw them receive their first airplay on MTV2 and Fuse and major press accolades.

After tours with bands like Bleeding Through and Dillinger Escape Plan, the band – now Dan, Scott, Marty Lunn (bass) and Jeff Gretz (drums) – recorded The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here with Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, Neurosis) manning the reel-to-reel. Next they hit the road with In Flames, Trivium, Demon Hunter & Throwdown.

Dan, Scott, Marty and Jeff reconvened for Awake?, their first album of new material in three years. The record was produced and engineered almost entirely by Scott in Pennsylvania, with Daniel Castleman and As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis producing drums in Southern California and handling the mixing. Longtime friend and Grammy nominated graphic designer Ryan Clark returned to handle the packaging, with some artwork from Dan’s close friend, Gabe Felice.

Zao’s latest album wants to step into your consciousness, unnerve you, make you think. Are you truly… Awake? 

 

 

 

 

ZAO - Press Release 2008

 

Legendarily influential heavy music act Zao is in the studio working on a brand new album, the follow-up to their 2006 record, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here. As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman are heading up the proceedings, together with Zao’s Scott Mellinger, for what is shaping up to be another monumental Zao album.

"We simply can not wait for everyone to hear these new songs," says longtime guitarist Mellinger. "We have not been on the road since the Demon Hunter and Throwdown tours in 2006, which has given us plenty of time to get our wits about us and to really concentrate on creating the best batch of material we possibly can."

Zao’s Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest was recently hailed as "one of the most influential albums of 1998" by Alternative Press magazine. That album, which introduced frontman Dan Weyandt to the heavy music scene, and follow-up Liberate te ex Inferis, which introduced guitarist and songwriter Mellinger, continue to be cornerstone albums to a new generation of bands drawing influence from Zao’s dark, passionate and creative music.

"Zao is a band that has influenced all types of bands in the heavy music genre, from the Deftones and to my band," offers Lambesis. "I’m very excited be a part of bringing them the production their band has always deserved. This record will be the Zao sound that fans and musicians like myself have been waiting to hear for a long time."

The lineup for this Zao album is the same as The Fear...: Longtime co-conspirators Weyandt and Mellinger alongside bass player Martin Lunn and drummer Jeff Gretz (From Autumn to Ashes). "Recording Jeff Gretz’s drums was the most relaxing and professional studio experience I’ve ever been a part of," boasts Lambesis. "That guy is a true pro and the standard by which I will judge every other drummer I record at Lambesis Studios in the future."

Zao’s new album will be released in 2009 via Ferret Music.

 

 

 

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"Awake?" North American Release (Ferret Music - May 5th, 2009)