Manuel Gagneux had a brilliant idea and could have spent his entire career cashing in on it. Ten years ago, the Swiss-American multi-instrumentalist started Zeal & Ardor in response to a 4chan troll telling him to mix black metal with “[n-word] music”. Instead of furiously hammering out a response, he decided a better riposte would be to try it and make it good.
His debut ‘Devil Is Fine’ did just that, its intertwining of bluesy croons and satanic metal drawing worldwide attention. Follow up ‘Stranger Fruit’ expanded the idea to its fullest, but then the ‘Wake of a Nation’ EP and 2022’s self-titled album proved even more original.
Rather than just spirituals and snarling, we got jazz, prog, funk and other weird stuff, all condensed into episodic songs that somehow made sense.
‘Greif’, Zeal & Ardor’s fourth full length, continues Gagneux’s campaign against pigeonholing. Lead single and closing track To My Ilk is a totally un-metal folk noodle, for crying out loud.
Opener The Bird, the Lion and the Wildkin is almost as leftfield: it commences the album with hypnotic whistles from Gagneux and co-vocalists Denis Wagner and Marc Obrist, swiftly juxtaposed by crushing electro-metal chords.
In between those poles, the band are the least afraid of genre constraints that they’ve ever been. The stacked guitar tracks of Kilonova cast funky country bends against hefty hardcore chugs, whereas Thrill’s irresistible hook threatens us with pop-punk levels of peppiness and Une Ville Vide is a jangling synth instrumental.
At the same time, though, they do what they’ve always done: write addictive songs. ‘Grief’ may be disparate in the genres it touches, but it’s coherent in its brevity and catchiness. Gagneux’s bunch still march to the beat of their own drum – and it’s a drum that will not stop producing excellent sounds.
Zeal and Ardor Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sun September 22 2024 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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