In the 2023 documentary Play With The Devil – Becoming Zeal & Ardor, it was revealed that after perfecting his unique fusion of black metal and Delta blues on 2018’s Stranger Fruit, Zeal & Ardor bandleader Manuel Gagneux effectively broke up the band. Of course, they didn’t stay broken up. Galvanised by the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Zeal & Ardor released the politically charged Wake Of A Nation EP that same year, and laid out a vision of a more oppressive industrial and alt metal- inclined sound that was explored fully on their 2022 self-titled album.
Now they’re seeing how deep the rabbit hole can go. Greif is the sound of a band seeking to reinvent themselves and innovate beyond their roots. Manuel’s soulful, emotionally wrenching vocals are still front and centre, but this time out the accompanying music has an organic, collaborative quality – the result of the frontman opening the floor to his bandmates, who have traditionally sat out the recording process – that is fresh and exciting. It’s still well within the sonic wheelhouse of their previous records, but the band are less confined by their core concept, with room to explore different inventive avenues.
But by expanding their remit, the laser focus of the previous records is naturally lost. In execution, Greif feels closer to the tentative steps the band took with 2017 debut Devil Is Fine than their more finessed later work.
That doesn’t mean they don’t still offer some stunning standouts: the contrast of twinkling high notes and earthy, explosive heaviness stands out on Fend You Off and serene ballad – in parts, at least – Are You The Only One Now?, black metal shrieks piercing melodious compositions like thorns through flesh. There are also new influences added into the mix. Disease’s strutting pace and mosquito-squeal guitars brings to mind the psychedelia-drenched tones of Songs For The Deaf-era Queens Of The Stone Age, while Sugarcoat goes full desert rock – via post-black metal, of course. Both sound simultaneously like Zeal & Ardor while decidedly alien in terms of what they’ve done before.
Manuel has always embraced a sense of rebelliousness, in their earliest days posing the question ‘What if enslaved Africans had embraced Satanism instead of the religion of their captors?’ Greif continues that line of upheaval and social inversion, subtly thumbing its nose at oppression on all levels – be it literal, metaphorical or even artistic. There’s a persistent adventurousness and originality throughout the album that makes it a fascinating listen. Greif doesn’t quite commit to ripping up the rule book, but it does feel like a transitionary step towards the next stage of Zeal & Ardor’s evolution, staving off creative oblivion by heading off in unexpected directions. Cohesion is a small price to pay for such imaginative liberty.
Greif is out this Friday, August 23. Read a special interview with Zeal & Ardor in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, out now
