Zao
The Well-Intentioned Virus
----Originally published on Lambgoat----
Say what you will about Zao, they have never made the same
record twice. The band pushed the
boundaries in the underground scene with their fusion of metal and hardcore in
the late nineties, cementing their place among the forefathers of metalcore. But rather than rehash the formulas of such
landmark albums as 1998’s mosh heavy Where
Blood And Fire Bring Rest or its noisy
follow up Liberate Te Ex Infernis,
Zao kept on pushing forward. Plagued by
temporary breakups and lineup changes, the group treaded water through the
early part of the 21st century, releasing a series of intriguing, if
not uneven records. Though each release
continued to explore new sonic territories, the band was able to maintain a
distinct sound due mostly to the consistent contributions of long time members vocalist
Dan Weyandt and guitarist Scott Mellinger.
With that duo leading the way, the band pushed on into the latter
half of the decade, offering up two of their most unique sounding albums, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here and Awake?.
While each record drew from opposite ends of the spectrum - the former
an exercise in raw intensity, the latter in controlled melodicism – they both
failed to capture the essence of Zao’s earlier work.
That’s where The
Well-Intentioned Virus comes in.
Make no mistake; this isn’t a return to the group’s classic material, but
the spirit is there. This may be due in
part to the re-addition of guitarist Russ Cogdell to the fold. Absent since the band’s fantastic 2004
release The Funeral Of God, Cogdell
had been a key player in Zao’s strongest material. In this new five-piece incarnation, rounded
out by drummer Jeff Gretz and bassist Martin Lunn, Zao may have actually found
it’s most creative and dynamic lineup yet.
All the signature elements are present - Weyandt’s unmistakable
demonic scream, downtuned heavy riffing and creative drum fills - but here they’re
wrapped in finely tuned song structures.
Opener “The Weeping Vessel” utilizes its clean guitar intro later in the
song to bridge it’s almost-melodic front half with it’s crunchy second half
while “A Well-Intentioned Virus” grooves through frantic riffs. Mellinger and Cogdell shine as the guitars
play off each other, subtly breaking from unison to harmony and back. Standout tracks like “Jinba Ittai” and
“Xenophobe” flow seamlessly through rhythm changes and monstrous riffs, as loud
and heavy as any from the group’s back catalog.
But that’s not to say The
Well-Intentioned Virus is one-dimensional- in fact it is far from it. “Broken Pact Blues” and “Haunting Pools”
recall the groups mellower, melodic stylings, albeit with a more refined
approach. Touches of Mellinger’s clean
sung vocals are still sprinkled into the mix, this time however, more
tastefully so, enhancing the flow of the album rather than disrupting it. The slow moving “Apocalypse” makes use of
this as it crawls through it’s Neurosis-like drawl, building up to a turbulent
mid-section.
It nearly goes without saying but the always-on-his-game Dan
Weyandt is in top form on The
Well-Intentioned Virus. Eighteen
years after our first introduction to his unique and influential delivery, the
vocalist hasn’t lost his sound. In fact,
in the years following, he has honed it, adding an ability to change the
dynamic of the song with a higher or lower inflection. Weyandt even provides us with a brief moment
of nostalgia in closer “I Leave You In Peace” when he drops the distorted scream
for a spoken word section. It’s reminiscent
of the closing moments of Blood And Fire,
reminding us that they are still the band that changed the game.
Bottomline: It would have been pretty easy for Zao to have
called it quits by now, cash in on a couple reunion tours and play the
classics. But with a history as storied
as theirs, Zao have never done things the easy way. For that we should all be grateful. With The
Well-Intentioned Virus, the group has taken their next step forward and
proven that they are still ahead of the pack.
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