Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Zao - Liberate Te Ex Inferis (1999)
So what have I checked out so far in my Zao journey? First was their second album The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation which was their last original lineup, then was their third album Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest where they started a new era. Both of those albums are some of the best metalcore albums I've listened. Would their next album continue their perfect streak?...
Way right! Liberate Te Ex Inferis is one of the heaviest albums from the late 90s. It was time for the band take their sound from Blood and Fire to a new level of metalcore. There are 10 songs here, with every two songs placed in one of Hell's circles: Limbo, The Lustful, The Gluttonous, The Hoarders and The Spendthrifts, The Wrathful.
The album's opening "Intro" starts slow before rising in the climax. In the end, an Event Horizon sample lets the listener know that "Hell is just a word, the reality is much, much worse." The first real song "Savannah" continues the band's recurring theme of Christianity's hypocrisy. A porn star suffers a deadly wound and the people who believe in God just let her die, "They can't believe the machine was alive but we saw it bleed, The machine falls apart and when it's cut it bleeds, The machine bleeds, She was alive." The more positively-written "Autopsy" is where Dan Weyandt asks for help from the Lord, "I can't see it but I feel the light, Someone tell us we are loved, Someone take the pain away, Someone fill up the void, Someone fix my broken heart, Are you that someone?" However, some of the other verses are lost and forgotten, even by Dan himself.
"If These Scars Could Speak" tells another story, this one of a woman whom his date raped her. While you can consider this release a concept album because of the Circles of Hell, I'm not sure about that because the songs tell different stories instead of one. "The Ghost Psalm" is another great track. My only complaint that doesn't detract the song and album's perfection is about the unnecessary Event Horizon sample in the beginning, "Do you want to make a deal? Cut a deal with the devil?" Another notable track is "Desire The End" with lyrics about Christianity's end of all things and a new beginning, "I desire the end, The touch of Armageddon, This world encased in flames, I desire the end, I desire the new beginning." Segueing out of another strange movie sample, "Dark Cold Sound" has some more introspective poetry in the lyrics. The listener can understand what Weyandt wants and interpret.
"Skin Like Winter" is a better phenomenal highlight, and what helps is, no strange movie samples around! Now this next track, "Kathleen Barbra", who is that? I have no clue, but we do have another great song, and the last one before the outro... "Man in Cage Jack Wilson", I'm sure there are over a dozen notable people with that name. It starts with another Event Horizon sample that includes the album's eponymous phrase. It's the same sample as the one heard in the beginning of "Prom Song" from Every Time I Die's debut EP released a few months after this album. But instead of chaotic metalcore, we have a dark yet beautiful 7-minute sludgy metalcore Crusade.
An album mandatory for Zao fans, Liberate Te Ex Inferis has a lot smile-inducing surprises. The band has continued their quest since Blood and Fire go beyond the limits for a refined metalcore sound. You don't wanna miss out on this punishing yet rewarding metalcore glory!
Favorites: "Savannah", "If These Scars Could Speak", "Desire the End", "Skin Like Winter", "Man in Cage Jack Wilson"