Zao -- (Self-Titled)

10/10

Zao's (Self-Titled), which doesn't mean the album is called "Zao," but actually, literally, "(Self-Titled)," was my first Zao album. The band had been on my periphery for years, but after hearing the weird acoustic ballad, "FJL" on Kazaa (remember Kazaa?), I decided that a "heavy" album that that song could be found on must be so weird, I had to own it. 

During my first listen, I was immediately impressed by (Self-Titled)'s music. The sound felt so cohesive and well-designed. The drummer used electronic V-drums instead of a real kit, while the guitarist's tones ventured from heavily distorted to a deep watery shimmer reminiscent of rainfall. The vocalist seemed primordial, like a serpentine fire roaring through the album, yet punctuated at select moments by singing--and I don't mean nasally "emo" singing, but like a gruff metal guy who's also really into The Cure. Meanwhile, ambient and electronic sounds created an overall fully realized musical landscape. Overall, though, what I loved most was just how cinematic and imaginative the music was, how well the album flowed from insanely heavy, to soaring and beautiful, to meditative and forlorn. I still feel this way.

This album is so diverse--A song like "FJL" shouldn't fit on an album featuring a crusher like "5 Year Winter," yet these two very different songs perfectly coexist together. Underneath this cohesion seems to lie a series of themes dictated not only by lyrics, but by the chosen sounds and tones, a world of mechanized feelings, with true, heavy emotion lying underneath and ready to erupt (and often doing so). You can very easily imagine a camera panning through ten different scenes as this album moves from one song to the next. For me, this was a stunning introduction to Zao, and still, next to Liberate Te Ex Inferis, my favorite thing they've done.

Of course, many people hated (Self-Titled) back when it was released. I was just starting off my second sophomore semester of college when I bought it, and starting to enter more avenues of conversation with people who were passionate about such things (where I come from, no one would have heard of or listened to a band like Zao). "That newest Zao album sucks!!!" they'd say. "Blood and Fire is way better!" However, this also became a great time to realize that everyone has different sensibilities (VERY DIFFERENT in the case of the folks I talked to back then who thought this was Zao's worst work).

I've been a diehard Zao fan since (Self-Titled), nearly 20 years now, gone back and listened to the albums before it, bought every single album that's come after it. (Self-Titled) holds up. 

(Self-Titled) does have some contemporaries from the time, with heavy albums like Deftones' 2000 release, White Pony, or Embodyment's The Narrow Scope of Things exploring similar sonic ideas and overall themes (I gave both of those 10/10's too--go figure, I must have a thing). It's emblematic of a specific time in a way. And it's still damn great now. From the opening statement of immolation in "5 Year Winter" to Daniel Weyandt's incredibly screamed promise that he "Will not die at zero!" during the album's finale, it's an emotional journey. It's hard to believe it was made by a band on the verge of breaking up, with really just one of the guitarists and the drummer fooling around in the studio. I'll take a happy accident of this caliber any day. 


2001 Solid State/Tooth & Nail Records
1. 5 Year Winter 2:28
2. Alive Is Dead 2:45
3. A Tool to Scream 4:10
4. Witchunter 3:09
5. Trashcanhands (Keyboard Cowards) 3:37
6. The Race of Standing Still 5:07
7. FJL 2:01
8. The End of His World 3:09
9. The Dreams That Don't Come True 5:59
10. At Zero (Simeon Simmons) 3:38