Training For Utopia / Zao Split EP

Track Listing

1. Training for Utopia- Modus Operandi
2. Zao- Skin Like Winter
3. Training for Utopia- Police John, Police Red
4. Zao- Walk on By, Walk on Me (The Pianist's Prophecy)

At two tracks a piece, this is a fairly straightforward split EP. Although it's only twenty minutes deep, it is an aggro fix to be reckoned with. Training for Utopia lead off with "Modus Operandi", a hard hitting track that actually represents the M.O. of this CD -- fast, heavy, and tight knit. The vocals are the exact growling voice box mutilations you would expect to accompany such a foreboding mesh of guitars and drums. Let's just say the last (and only) time I tried to mimic singing like this I lost my voice for a week. The first track from Zao, "Skin Like Winter", showcases their metalic riffage at a slower pace than Utopia, but with no less pugnacity. The guitar outshines the vocals in terms of melody, but they are matched in intensity.

The opening to Utopia's next track slows things down tenfold, with a great melodic acoustic intro accompanied by a surprisingly acute and equally melodic singing voice. This proves Maven's vocal chords aren't permanently shredded from his usual singing, as I would have assumed. By the fourth or fifth line of lyrics he's already hollering in the style heard on "M.O.", and the instruments soon follow suit with their aggressive transformation. This is perhaps one of the harshest tracks on the EP, which is quite an accomplishment. The two bands play well off each other, and they say to "consider this as a split release of two bands that are the best of friends, we had fun making it."