Zao

Zao’s latest release is a concept album based on Dante’s Inferno. Songs are broken up into the five circles (Limbo, the Lustful, the Gluttonous, the Hoarders and the Spendthrifts, and the Wrathful) with a slight variance musically for each grouping, along with each member representing one of the circles. Musically, Zao would probably fall into the very ambiguous metal/hardcore realm, although their sound tends to be much more extreme. Elements of death-metal martyrs Carcass are present, and parallels, at times, can be drawn to the progressive metal of In Flames, although, Zao tend to not be so advanced or influenced by ‘80s prog metal. Acoustic tangents weave their way through the more atmospheric songs on Liberate… and Zao aren’t afraid to slow it down to doom-metal standards, as exemplified by a track like “The Ghost Psalm,” which is akin to early My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost.