~
My wonderful Lexi of
Titanic fame has done it again! Her Christmas present to me was a really kool CD by a heavy metal group I had never heard before,
Zeal & Ardor.
The
son of a white
Swiss biologist who played percussion in Cuba and a black American
jazz singer, he did not fit in. Not really Swiss, not really a black
kid, he wrestled with the feeling through his primary school years.
Perhaps it’s what is heard now in his music. He says he still doesn’t really know
where it came from – just that it was there.
Initially a solo project, the band signed with MVKA records in 2016 and
expanded to a full lineup, with Gagneux on vocals and guitar, backing
vocalists Denis Wagner and Marc Obrist, guitarist Tiziano Volante,
bassist Mia Rafaela Dieu, and drummer Marco Von Allmen. The project
started in New York City, but is now based in
Basel, Switzerland.
Hunkering
down in the basement of the local bar he used to co-own (“a squat-y,
punky bar, full of tags and awful imagery, beer’s cheap”) he worked on
songs, including some he’d previously written for
Eric Garner, a black
man killed in
Staten Island after police put him in a chokehold in 2014.
Manuel Gagneux
photo by Matthias Willi
Gagneux posted his Birdmask music to
4chan, he said, "to get feedback because they're brutally honest and don't give a shit about you."
He would ask users for two musical genres to combine and create a song
in half an hour, as an experiment to expand his creativity. One of these users suggested that he fuse "
black metal", while another suggested "
nigger music"; in response, he started Zeal & Ardor, which features elements of both
black metal and
slave songs.
Billboard Magazine:
"If
the Zeal & Ardor combination of Scandinavian black metal and black
American slave spirituals seems contrived, that’s because it is — or at
least, it was."
Manuel Gagneux - 2022
photo by Nat Wood
I pretty much like all the songs on the album but the ones in particular that have grabbed me are Bow, Golden Liar, Feed The Machine, Death to the Holy, Church Burns and Hold Your Head Low.
Bow is the seventh cut on the CD but I like using it as the opening shot; it gives you a taste for what comes after. It is a very slow number with a very heavy beat; when I say heavy, I mean HEAVY! It has a great chorus back up which makes it SO
rhythm 'n blues, with a bite!
Golden Liar
is mostly a guitar duet, a couple of male vocals, great understated percussion with a heavy beat,
tons of sonic effects, a quiet chorus and good lyrics. And it is
sensational! It's the fifth cut on the CD and I highly recommend
listening to it second. I feel it is a wonderfully delicate nuance of a
determined-to-get-there sound. It is VERY slow and its grandly pounding
bass drum tugs you along on its journey to wherever it is going.
CD & interior cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Feed The Machine is another slow song with a driving beat and a treatment
Marilyn Manson
would have given his eye teeth for. It is a blend of mid-seventies,
pre-disco, hip-grinding soul and way out there metal. It's a terrific
song to dance, if not, at least move to.
Hold Your Head Low
also like the above mentioned,
Bow, is another very slow song with a great male chorus that definitely puts it in the
R 'n B, mode; and terrific guitar
work during the quiet breaks; in spots it drives right through your head
like a rusty nail. It's a really great song with interesting lyrics.
Although it is also a moderately slow song, Death To the Holy
is pure dynamite! With great piano work,
it is a conglomeration of soul, rap and who knows WHAT! The video for
this song on YouTube (link below) cautions against subject.
Church Burns
begins like a blues song but breaks out into metal then back and forth.
Really beautiful vocal and guitar in the breaks.
It seems most of the songs I've talked about have been moderately slow ones but
Headbangers have not been left out.
Gotterdammerung,
J-M-B and
Run quite nicely fill that niche.
Gotterdammerung is VERY heavy metal, no doubt about it. It just starts FULL steam; no messin' 'round, no intro build up,
Run
does just THAT! It is a humdinger with furiously fast guitars followed
by equally fast tom-toms. There is a video for the song on YouTube (link below),
however, it is very frenetic and has a warning at the beginning that
warns one of possible seizures. Not sure if that is just marketing hype.
The opening and closing songs are VERY short, really interesting and deserving of closer look and listening.
Tracklist:
Solve
1 Zeal & Ardor - 1:58
2 Run - 3:17
3 Death to the Holy - 3:08
4 Emersion - 3:35
5 Golden Liar - 3:44
6 Erase - 4:02
7 Bow - 2:14
Coagula
8 Feed The Machine - 2:39
9 I Caught You - 4:07
10 Church Burns 3:04
11 Gotterdammerung - 3:03
12 Hold Your Head Low - 4:43
13 J-M-B - 1:54
14 A-H-I-L - 2:36
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Redacted GmbH
Copyright © – Redacted GmbH
Licensed To – Mvka
Published By – Chester Music
Manufactured By – SixtySix Productions
Manufactured By – www.sixtysixproductions.co.uk
Manufactured By – Optimal Media GmbH – AL64008
Recorded At – Hutch Sounds
Mixed At – Graphic Nature Audio
Mastered At – Graphic Nature Audio
Credits:
Artwork – Noé Herrmann, Zeal & Ardor*
Composed By – Manuel Gagneux
Drums, Performer, Photography By – Marco von Allmen
Illustration – Nico Charon
Mixed By, Mastered By – Will Putney
Recorded By – Manuel Gagneux, Marc Obrist
Notes:
Comes in 6 panel Digipak.
Recorded at Hutch Sounds.
Mixed and mastered at Graphic Nature Audio.
Special thanks to Schammasch.
© & ℗ 2021 & 2022 Redacted GmbH under exclusive license to MKVA.
All rights reserved.
Made in Germany
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: 190296780851
Label Code: LC 49967
Matrix / Runout: SixtySix66 www.sixtysixproductions.co.uk AL64008-01 manufactured by optimal media GmbH
Mastering SID Code: IFPI L578
Zeal & Ardor* – Zeal & Ardor
Label: Mvka – MVLP1049
Format: CD, Album
Country: Worldwide
Released: Feb 11, 2022
Genre: Rock
Style: Black Metal, Soul
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
YouTube links:
Once again, thanks, Lexi!
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