Zao -- Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest

8/10

I came late to the party. By the time I'd gotten into Zao, they'd already had more member changes than most bands do over the course of their entire lifetimes. They were eight years into a career that has now spanned 28. I guess that means I've been listening to Zao for 20 years. 1998's Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest was not my introduction to the band--I came in two albums later, to Blood and Fire's detriment, though chronologically, my Zao collection starts here (I do not own the band's first two albums, All Else Failed and The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation). 

Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest is hailed as a landmark album in the metalcore genre. Metalcore is called such because it is supposed to be a fusion of metal and hardcore music. Passionate young Zao helped create this style of music because they loved both metal and hardcore, and fusing the two genres into one only felt natural.
In the 23 years since this album was released, metalcore as a genre has essentially become a punchline. 1000 mediocre metalcore bands have released countless albums featuring wall-to-wall cookie-cutter riffs and unimaginative songwriting. Metalcore is, at this point, like the sand of heavy music. Truthfully, I'm not even sure if I like it at this point. I generally most enjoy music that cohesively explores a wide set of textures. 

I think it's telling that Zao, just a year after Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest was released, already felt like they needed to start pushing more boundaries, and exploring more sounds. However, as a musical document, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest has acted as a blueprint that burgeoning metalcore bands have struggled to match, let alone improve upon. There are already signs of Zao tiring of the strictures of the formula here on that original document, though:

The acoustic guitar to kick off "To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory." The spoken word cinematic intro to "Ravage Ritual (taken from 1995's The Prophecy)." The seven-minute piano, keyboard, and ambient noise closer, "Violet." Even the ambient outro to album-opener, "Lies of Serpents, a River of Tears." 

Zao is no band to rest on their laurels. That inquisitive musical nature, the fiery dual guitars throughout, Jesse Smith's perfect drumming, and Dan Weyandt's trademarked, legendary serpentine vocals ensure that Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest has stood the test of time, head and shoulders over its metalcore peers. And yet, because of the more experimental directions Zao would head, Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest might not even be in my Zao top five.


1998 Solid State/Tooth & Nail Records
1. Lies of Serpents, a River of Tears 2:39
2. To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory 4:27
3. A Fall Farewell 2:56
4. March 3:51
5. Ember 2:26
6. Ravage Ritual 3:15
7. Fifteen Rhema 3:33
8. For a Fair Desire 3:03
9. The Latter Rain 6:28
10. Violet 7:18