Tuesday, March 1, 2022

ITP V.022 REVIEW: ZEAL & ARDOR: "ZEAL & ARDOR"

 



 

 BAND::ZEAL & ARDOR  (NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A/SWITZERLAND.)

GENRE:BLACKENED METAL, EXTREME METAL, AVANT GARDE METAL

LABEL: MVKA and RADICALIS. 

 RELEASE DATE: 2/11/2022

TITLE:   "ZEAL & ARDOR"




PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG): 

 "WAKE OF A NATION" (EP), 10/23/2020 via MVKA.

 "STRANGER FRUIT", 6/7/2018 via MVKA. 

 

"DEVIL IS FINE", 4/15/2016 and 8/26/2016 via REFLECTION RECORDS. .

" ZEAL & ARDOR", 6/19/2014 (DIGITAL, SELF RELEASED):


LIVE RELEASES: 

 "LIVE IN LONDON", 3/22/2019 (DIGITAL, SELF RELEASED). 

"LIVE IN MONTREUX", 12/1/2018 via MVKA and RADICALIS. 







BEST RELEASE(S): "WAKE OF A NATION" (EP, 2020), "ZEAL & ARDOR" (2022)

ZEAL & ARDOR: "ZEAL & ARDOR":  TRACKLISTING: 

1. "ZEAL & ARDOR"

2. "RUN"

3. "DEATH TO THE HOLY"

4. "EMERSION"

5. "GOLDEN LIAR"

6. "ERASE"

7. "BOW"

8. "FEED THE MACHINE"

9. "I CAUGHT YOU" 

10. "CHURCH BURNS" 

11. "GOTTERDAMMERUNG" 

12. "HOLD YOUR HEAD LOW" 

13. "J-M-B"

14. "A-H-I-L"





ITP RATING: ****1/2 (four and a half out of five stars)
PRODUCTION: ****1/2
SONGWRITING:****1/2
PERFORMANCE: *****

 

Swiss born musician MANUEL GAGNEUX formed  ZEAL & ARDOR as a solo project in 2013.        In 2016, ZEAL & ARDOR  signed with MVKA and the project expanded into a full band.  

ZEAL & ARDOR have two full length releases under the bands belt, "DEVIL IS FINE" (2016) and "STRANGER FRUIT" (2018). 

ZEAL & ARDOR's emotive 2020 EP "WAKE OF A NATION" stood courageously against police brutality melding Gospel music with blackened extreme metal. 

 ZEAL & ARDOR combine African/spiritual music with, black metal and avant garde elements. 

Here ITP has  ZEAL & ARDOR'S self titled release on tap to review. 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S  self titled release kicks off with the title track, a short, droning intro dabbling in electronica and clean bluesy, gospel vocals. 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S "RUN" kicks in HEAVY with excellent soulful vocals, intense screams and  seismic, tribal drumming.."Where's your fucking God, when you're about to run. Where's your messiah when times are dire", screams vocalist Manuel..

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S "DEATH TO THE HOLY" opens with a booty shaking soulful, Gospel and transitions with some vicious thrash. This track is amazing and genre bending. .

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S instrumental "EMERSION" opens up with ambient electronica and transitions into atmospheric blackened metal and back to the ambient electronica. Truly genre bending with blast beats and everything. ZEAL & ARDOR meld metal genres with ambience like never done before. 

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "GOLDEN LIAR" returns to a bluesy, soul with a taste of Gospel. "GOLDEN LIAR" is a well written track and it could be a hit single. 

.ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "ERASE" kicks off with a bluesy guitar riff and transitions into brutal, nu metal. . Clean and blackened extreme metal vocals are interchanged with heavy riffing and a guitar tone to die for.  . At 3:27  .ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "ERASE"  segues into a beautiful jazzy ending. . 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S "BOW" lyrically challenges nationalism of all sorts in a bluesy gospel tinged. "Bow down the American way.", sings ZEAL & ARDOR'S  MANUEL. 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "FEED THE MACHINE" opens with a Gospel flavor before destroying all in the path was some vicious blackened extreme metal complete with screams. I can envision a brutal mosh pit to this track.  "FEED THE MACHINE" melds Gospel with thrash metal effortlessly... 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S "I CAUGHT YOU" is  INTENSE, melding emotive, soulful chanting with nu metal and thrash..

.ZEAL & ARDOR'S  vocalist MANUEL possesses a demonic scream and segues beautifully into soulful vocals and even death growls.   

ZEAL & ARDOR'S "CHURCH BURNS" is hard rock tune segued within soulful Gospel clean vocals.. 

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S "GOTTERDAMMERUNG" is a nu metal, stomping rager employing both clean and screamed vocals. 

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "HOLD YOUR HEAD LOW", entering with bluesy, soulful, clean vocals as the track fills out into full blown metal heaven as the track segues between the two genres with brilliance...  ZEAL & ARDOR'S  "J-M-B" toys with industrial metal, melding bluesy, alternative rock with metal riffing and a danceable drum beat. 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S  self titled release closes with an instrumental electronic piece. 

 ZEAL & ARDOR'S  self titled release (2022) is scorching combination of soulful, bluesy Gospel, and brutal extreme metal. ZEAL & ARDOR pack a "brutiful" punch melding the various and different genres with a tight string of quality songwriting and exquisite musicianship. . 

ZEAL & ARDOR'S vocalist MANUEL GAGNEUX puts on a clinic employing both clean, soulful emotive vocals with extreme metal screams, just brilliant. 

Strangely enough, ZEAL & ARDOR started off as a joke stemming from a racist comment on a forum. ZEAL & ARDOR have proven everyone wrong with a unique and creative genre bending project. 

ZEAL & ARDOR self titled release features excellent production often replicating a organic and live feel. 

There is simply nothing like ZEAL &  ARDOR as the 2022 self titled release is the bands most cohesive to date..

ZEAL &  ARDOR could appeal to anyone: Blues rockers, metal heads, alternative kids.

The mosh pit should be packed for ZEAL &  ARDOR. 

Well done guys, I'm floored. . 

 ITP RATING: ****1/2 (four and a half out of five stars)
PRODUCTION: ****1/2
SONGWRITING:****1/2
PERFORMANCE: *****.  .      

 

ZEAL & ARDOR: "ZEAL & ARDOR":  

https://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2022/02/zeal-ardor-streaming-new-release-zeal.html 

ITP V.021 REVIEW:: ZEAL & ARDOR:"WAKE OF A NATION" (EP)

https://spak-individualthoughtpatterns.blogspot.com/2021/01/itp-v021-review-zeal-ardor-wake-of.html 

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Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay BROOTIFUL-\n/ -l-