Legendarily influential heavy music act ZAO is in the studio working on a brand new album, the followup to their 2006 record, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here. As I Lay Dying (video) frontman Tim Lambesis and Daniel Castleman are heading up the proceedings, together with Zao's Scott Mellinger, for what is shaping up to be another monumental ZAO album.

"We simply can not wait for everyone to hear these new songs," says longtime guitarist Mellinger. "We have not been on the road since the Demon Hunter and Throwdown tours in 2006, which has given us plenty of time to get our wits about us and to really concentrate on creating the best batch of material we possibly can."

Zao's Where Blood & Fire Bring Rest was recently hailed as "one of the most the most influential albums of 1998" by Alternative Press magazine. That album, which introduced frontman Dan Weyandt to the heavy music scene, and followup Liberate te ex Inferis, which introduced guitarist and songwriter Mellinger, continue to be cornerstone albums to a new generation of bands drawing influence from Zao's dark, passionate and creative music.

"Zao is a band that has influenced all types of bands in the heavy music genre, from the Deftones and to my band," offers Lambesis. "I'm very excited be a part of bringing them the production their band has always deserved. This record will be the Zao sound that fans and musicians like myself have been waiting to hear for a long time."

The lineup for this ZAO album is the same as The Fear...: Longtime co-conspirators Weyandt and Mellinger alongside bass player Martin Lunn and drummer Jeff Gretz (From Autumn to Ashes). "Recording Jeff Gretz's drums was the most relaxing and professional studio experience I've ever been a part of," boasts Lambesis. "That guy is a true pro and the standard by which I will judge every other drummer I record at Lambesis Studios in the future."

ZAO's two Ferret Music albums, The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here (2006) and The Funeral Of God (2004), are among the biggest selling and most important in the band's impressive catalog. Funeral was produced by Erik Rachel (Every Time I Die) and The Fear... was recorded by Steve Albini (Nirvana). The band has toured with In Flames, Trivium, Shadows Fall and in the past took bands like Underoath and Unearth on tour as their opening acts.

"If the melodic end of the kingdom has been taken by Killswitch Engage, then the extreme end belongs to Zao, no question." -- Metal Hammer

ZAO's new album will be released in 2009.

ZAO - The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here - Ferret Music <http://www.zaoonline.com/>
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