Review by Luka on April 29, 2001.

Necronemesis delivers some worthy riffs and catchy parts but overall it’s nothing too unique. Unlike so many metal bands today who constantly strive to be the most brutal band, most melodic, fastest, whatever... currently, Usurper seem content with just taking it easy and producing a ordinary death/black crossover album, with all the tried & true methods.
Nothing special or unique, yet the album never gets boring, either very slow and brutally heavy, or fast and chaotic, all the songs have a nice beat and something that makes them great. The vocals switch from semi-death grunts (a lot clearer than pure) and black metal rasps. King Diamond does some truly pitiful vocal contributions on the title-track, I just can’t stomach this guy!

Unlike the majority of extreme metal bands, it looks like Usurper spend as much time on lyrics as they do on their music. Interesting topics about occult, religious, and extraterrestrial phenomena and amusing urban legends, with detailed write-ups beneath the lyrics, describing that particular topic. "Spawned of cosmic dust, into human form. With the fear of death, man invents his gods..." nice lyrics indeed.

My favorite track is definitely "Deathwish", a nice steady beat, simple guitar shredding and really catchy vocals on the pre-chorus. And the intro to "Into the Oblong Box" - the last track, is just awesome, slow and crushing. The same song keeps running and plays nothing for about 30 minutes after it’s over, and only then, there’s a weird, repetitive, 5-minute chant and the CD ends at a total running time of 72 mins.

Bottom Line: Unless you want a completely normal metal record, spend your money on something else. I hear Peccatum are doing some totally weird and innovative things with metal...

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Allan on February 25, 2003.

Zao are back for one last time. If you thought that their swan song "Parade of Chaos" was going to be the last output from these three remaining metalcore maestros, you were wrong. This time it's not a new album, but a reissue of Zao's debut album, "All Else Failed." Not only that, but it has been re-recorded with the most recent line-up of which only one original member remains, drummer Jesse Smith. So, we can all weep about the passing of Zao, but it's not a bad idea to be thankful for the fact that the new "All Else Failed" is an awesome piece of work.

"All Else Failed" sounds as cutting edge as it did back in 1996 when it was originally released. It might not be as inventive as their last few albums as a band, but there's no question as to whether Zao possess the ferociousness that it takes to hopefully pass as a good metalcore band. "All Else Failed" does exactly that. It releases that energy and the outcome is powerful. Dan Weyandt is surely anything but close to original vocalist Eric Reeder's traditional hardcore yells, but unless you have something against his hellish screams Weyandt is the obvious pick over Reeder. More emotion, conviction, and creativity. Guitarist Scott Melinger was kind enough to stray a bit from his usually thundering distorted guitar for a less warm and more raw sound, although I wish he hadn't. Still, it sounds good, especially for material such as this. The only remaining member, Jesse Smith, surprisingly plays this old material with a lot more passion than that of which he played on Zao's last output, "Parade of Chaos" where something just seemed to be lacking. Maybe it's the actual drum lines, but they sound pretty good here.

It comes down to whether or not the new “All Else Failed” is worth it or not. Absolutely. Not only is it great to hear something else from Zao, but also the band sounds like they’re glad they’re still able to play together. That energy is present. Besides, unless we’re talking about black metal, it’s usually not too bad to have some old material polished up with a nicer performance and better production.

Bottom Line: If you’re a big fan of Zao, than by all means pick this up. If you’re interested in newer Zao and aren’t that into the old line-up, this is also something you might want to check out. “All Else Failed” is a good addition to Zao’s LP arsenal.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 6
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.2 out of 10