The first song on The Fear What Keeps Us Here, ‘Cancer Eater’ starts with a peaceful melodic intro which bursts out into a violent musical eruption. Immediately the tone is set for the rest of the album. The second song ‘Physician Heal Thyself’ immediately puts the album in 5^th gear and doesn’t stop until it reaches the end of the album. Along the road Zao creates some fine pieces of music.

 

For example take the song ‘It’s Hard Not To Shake With A Gun In Your Mouth’ starts like it could be a song from The Dillinger Escape Plan and has a really quiet intermezzo in between, but it ends a bit like At The Drive-In. This is just one example but there are many great songs on this album, just try out ‘Physician Heal Thyself’ , ‘There Is No Such Thing As Paranoia’ and ‘Kingdom Of Thieves’.

 

Already two bands have been mentioned but don’t forget there’s so much more in Zao then these two. I believe the sound of Zao lies somewhere in a mix between The Dillinger Escape Plan, From Autumn To Ashes, At The Drive-In and a bit of Coheed And Cambria.

Overall Zao created a very dark and impressive album that will still surprise you after numerous of turns. With the new album in the pocket this could be a great year for Zao, because The Fear That Keeps Us Here could be one of the revelations of 2006.