 During the winter of 2001, Zak started his comeback with long-time friend and co founder of the band, Dan Campbell, co-writing material with former Savatage lead singer Jon Oliva and guitarist Chris Caffery what would become the songs for the Circle II Circle debut album, "Watching in Silence".The second CIIC record "The Middle of Nowhere" featured Zak's vocals along with band members Paul Michael Stewart, Andy Lee, Tom Drennan and Evan Christopher.The band's third release was a concept album, entitled "Burden of Truth", based around the concept of Jesus' descendants.