Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest — Zao

Zao's Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest came out on Solid State, Tooth & Nail's heavy label, in May 1998. Listings give the date as either 19 May or 26 May. It runs just under forty minutes. Barry Poynter produced it with Bruce Fitzhugh. Jesse Smith played drums, Russ Cogdell and Brett Detar played guitar and covered bass in the studio, and Dan Weyandt sang. It was the first record with Weyandt, after the band's earlier lineup quit and Smith kept the name going.

Who they were in 1998

In 1998 Zao was a Christian metalcore band on Solid State, rebuilt from scratch. Angry Metal Guy's look back at the album puts it plainly. The new lineup preached far less than the old one and wrote about personal grief and church hypocrisy instead.

What the critics keep saying about this album

Ryan Downey's AllMusic review is still the one people quote. He called it one of the most stark, gripping and emotional albums heavy music had produced, and said most fans consider it the definitive Zao record. He praised the metallic wallop, the mournful guitar lines and Smith's drumming. He said Weyandt's sharp, hissed, Carcass-like vocals were imitated by countless bands afterwards, and he called it a definitive album from one of the most important bands in metalcore.

Fred Keel reviewed it for Jesus Freak Hideout on 24 December 2008. He wrote about the grief in the songs, tied to deaths close to Weyandt. "To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory" was written in memory of his stepbrother's best friend, Robbie Spade. Keel heard guidance from God across the album, including on "March," though Zao never names Jesus on the record. He called the piano instrumental "Violet" a high note to close on. His one real complaint was "For a Fair Desire." He felt it had passion in the lyrics but didn't hold up musically next to the rest. Otherwise, he called it one of the best hardcore metal albums of all time.

Angry Metal Guy's retrospective covers the rebuild. Smith picked up the pieces after his bandmates left music for ministry, and he found a new lineup in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, including Detar, who went on to The Juliana Theory. Later metalcore and hardcore bands have pointed to the album's intensity and honesty as a turning point. Loudwire, Kerrang! and Brooklyn Vegan have all put it on lists of the best metalcore albums.

Five tracks from this LP

Lies of Serpents, a River of Tears opens the album, and it's Downey's wallop in miniature. There's a sample from The Shining at the end, and its theme of hypocrisy in the church pairs with "Ravage Ritual."

Ravage Ritual opens with a sample from The Prophecy. It goes after the church without a soft landing, and Weyandt's hissed vocal is the style Downey said so many bands copied.

To Think of You Is to Treasure an Absent Memory is the memorial song for Robbie Spade that Keel wrote about. It's the most personal song on a very personal record.

March carries the album's faith without using the name of Jesus. Keel quoted its lines about a single quiet voice and the breath of His words, and Smith's drumming holds it together.

Violet is the piano instrumental that closes the album. It runs past seven minutes and gives the album its rest after the blood and fire.

"Ember," "Fifteen Rhema" and "The Latter Rain" are worth hearing too. Keel's note on "For a Fair Desire" still stands. It has passion on paper but sounds weaker next to the rest of the set.

The score

It scores a 9/10.

Why not a ten? Keel had a fair point about "For a Fair Desire," and even great records have a soft track. Why not an eight? Downey called it definitive for the band and said the band was one of metalcore's most important, and the hissed vocal became a template. The grief in the writing still holds up without naming Jesus, and "Violet" still closes the album gently after the storm.

Where this album sits on Loud Faith

Back in 1998, Zao played Christian festivals like Cornerstone and shared stages with secular bands, and secular metalcore bands picked up the hissed vocal style. Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest is the album where Smith kept the name going, and where Weyandt, Cogdell and Detar wrote grief and hypocrisy into metalcore years before the style went big.