Search - Zao :: Funeral of God

Zao Amazes Me With A Beautiful Story

Taylor Hamilton | Van Meter, IA USA | 01/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What if God got sick of us not listening to him and decided to leave? What would happen? Would Armageddon finally come? Well, that's the question posed from "The Funeral Of God", The newest release from Zao, a band coming at you for ages it seems. Zao shows us the terrors of a life without God and with evil humans ruling. I believe that this is one of the best albums I've heard in a while. "And when the end she comes, rains down on everyone, fire from the sky" is a great line from "The Rising End (The First Prophecy)", but my favorite line has to be from the exact same song "Bombs rain down like heaven's tear, the earth shall die and dissapear." This fortells a story of death and mayhem. I urge anyone that is a Christian to pick this up. Now for the musical side of it. Zao is great. The guitar work of Scott Mellinger and Russ Codgell is absolutely insane. Stephen Peck and Shawn Koschik round out the rhythm section with Dan Weyandt doing vocals. On "Psalm Of the City Of The Dead", Josh Momper plays a chaotic piano rhythm, adding to the beautiful mayhem and destructive feeling of the whole piece. Songs like "Breath of the Black Muse" and "Truly, Truly, This is The End" tell the story wonderfully. Please, any metalhead that appriciates good music should have this in their collection.



Favorite Song: "Psalm Of The City Of The Dead"



Reason Why: The song gives off a feeling of letdown and pain as the people of earth finally realize what they have done and regret it and beg for forgiveness. The piano line from Josh Momper and the multi-layered vocals of Sara George give the song a haunting, lilting feeling. Simplicity is the key in this song with the only lyrics being "As we wait for a sign we are greeted by the end of time, these streets aren't paved with gold, you're my everything, my soul is growing cold.""

Fantastic Christian metal

Prog Fan | Los Angeles, CA | 11/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I know, I know. My parents keep telling me, "Stop listening to that devil music!" then I'm like, "IT'S NOT DEVIL MUSIC. THESE GUYS ARE CHRISTIANS!" Of course, they don't believe me, but anyway...This is an awesome album full of "make you think" lyrics (if you can understand them. I know I can't) and good, classic metal. Since I'm a drummer, I love the drumming for this. The double bass is not used too much or too little, which is great. The guitars are excellent and the bass is especially slappy, which is something you don't hear very often any more. Here are the ratings song by song:



1) Breathing of the Black Muse - 9/10. Good overall music. I especially like the part at the end.



2) The Rising End (The First Prophecy) - 10/10. This is one of my favorite songs on the CD for its quick double bass and interesting guitar riffs.



3) The Last Revelation (The Last Prophecy) - 9/10. A little repetive, but overall good.



4) The Last Song From Zion - 9/10. Good guitar riffs make this one a good one.



5) Live...From the Funeral of God - 7/10. Probably my least favorite on the CD. It's still decent though.



6) The Lesser Lights of Heaven - 8/10. Meh...



7) In Times Gone Past - 9/10. Very fast double bass make this a winner (for me). Good, freaky quality in the middle too.



8) Praise the War Machine - 10/10. Another one of my favorites. I especially like the 666 part (not for that reason).



9) Truly Truly This is the End - 10/10. Another favorite. I love the part where it's just the drums and the guy whispering in the background...it's cool.



10) I Lay Sleepless in my Grave - 9/10. Short, but good.



11) Psalm of the City of the Dead - 10/10. Definitely my favorite song on the CD. I absolutely love this song, ESPECIALLY the part with the choir in the middle. It's very peaceful and comforting."

More melody, less intensity

spirestar | 07/10/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this album falls in between everything Zao has done, in my opinion. the music is not as brutally heavy or intense as, say, a fall farewell...there is more attention paid to the melody of the guitars. There is also a lot of dynamic fluctuation drum-wise, and this is a *very* good thing.



The biggest surprise for me was the bass playing on the album. It's raw, it's heavy, it's melodic....it's perfect. It was a *huge* surprise.



This is a very strong album, but I'm very stingy with 5 star ratings and I don't believe this album is perfect or a classic.



It is, however, worth the price to anyone looking for the most brutal vocalist in the business and very solid, very intense hardcore.



(note: there's a mild juliana theory feel to some of the tracks...I count it as a positive, but some of you may not)"