Zao / Funeral of God, the
Album: Funeral of God, the   Collection:General
Artist:Zao   Added:Jul 2004
Label:Ferret Music  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2004-08-09 Pull Date: 2004-10-10 Charts: Loud
Week Ending: Aug 29 Aug 22 Aug 15
Airplays: 1 2 1

Recent Airplay
1. Aug 28, 2004: Under the Sheltering Sky
Psalm of the City of the Dea
3. Aug 18, 2004: press and release
Breath of the Black Muse
2. Aug 19, 2004: Les Chevaux De Frise
The Rising End (The First Pr
4. Aug 12, 2004: Les Chevaux De Frise
Praise the War Machine, Live... From the Funeral of, Psalm of the City of the Dea, I Lay Sleepless in My Grave

Album Review
Orges
Reviewed 2004-10-25
Zao – The Funeral Of God (Ferret Music)
Newest album by these Christian metalcore stalwarts, they’ve toned down the preachiness here by tackling a concept (and hence making a concept album) which still allows them to preach, but masks it pretty well. “What if God decided humanity had rejected him so completely that He just... disappeared?” Really well done metal with a lot of hardcore, some intense breakdowns reminding me of Byzantine, and the occasional solo. Vocals are harsh, growled/bellowed, and the occasional very effective clean crooning. The guitar playing is pretty damn original, these guys are coming up with some wicked things. The general effect of all this is very aggressive music that can also be very, very melodic. Overall, highly recommended.

Tracks:
1) Whoa! Check out the groove in that riff, and then watch for that breakdown.
2) Straightforward riff, with a doomy, heavy groove and killer vocals.
3) More classic hardcore sound, has some awesome clean vocal passages.
4) Mid-tempo melo-death that sounds better than the originators of the style.
5) “Live, from the funeral of God...” Chilling song with some wicked melody lines coming out of that guitar and some cool clean vocals. Also, best hardcore breakdown ever.
6) One of the most melodic songs on the CD, very haunting riff in the mid-section. Killer material.
7) Clean vocals, spoken vocals, over a relatively mellow, subdued intro, and then a driving, pounding section. Repeat.
8) Damn, this intro rules all else. From a layered guitar noodling type run, to a driving, downtuned groove-laden breakdown, awesome!
9) More madness from the drums and guitar, leading up to a very melodic part with clean vocals, and then breakdowns!
10) Short acoustic guitar interlude before the big finale...
11) ...which owns my world! Starts off slow, with bass guitar, then slowly builds with a few chords here and there, some scattered drumming, and then it finally kicks in. Driving, pounding, relentless mostly-instrumental that packs so much emotion into every note to make you feel the impending doom like it’s right in front of your face. It then changes into a children’s choir section with a piano riff that is simply gut-wrenching. Amazing. I think I have a new favorite CD for the year.

Track Listing
1. Breath of the Black Muse   6. The Lesser Lights of Heaven
2. The Rising End (The First Pr   7. In Times Gone Past
3. The Last Revelation (The Las   8. Praise the War Machine
4. The Last Song From Zion   9. Truly, Truly this Is the End
5. Live... From the Funeral of   10. I Lay Sleepless in My Grave
  11. Psalm of the City of the Dea