Zeal & Ardor is a band that have had me absolutely captivated. Their first two releases, Devil is Fine and Stranger Fruit, made my jaw drop. The poetry of combining beck and call rooted in African American history with black metal and synth was nothing other than groundbreaking.
As Zeal & Ardor grew, so did their experimentation. Refusing to adhere to any expectation or guidelines, the band surged further into untouched realms of music. They sprinkled black metal influence into everything from techno, glazes of nü-and death metal, brushes with innovative sound clips, soaring choruses, to drawn back story telling. Swiss-American frontman and founder Manuel Gagneux knows no bounds in his voice or in his music. For these reasons, the band has me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next brilliant piece of music that I can guarantee has never been heard before.
In comes GRIEF, the project's newest release. Its a smorgasbord of styles and techniques that proves again Zeal & Ardor are still a haven of significant talent and vision.
However, it's almost impossible to explain this album without going track by track. GRIEF reminds me of Nocturnoquet from The Mars Volta. All of the ingredients for a stunner of an album are here – but unfortunately, GRIEF just doesn't come together. The vocals are excellent, delivering a myriad of tensions from triumphant to secretive, but sonically the technical aspect of GRIEF lacks a sense of excitement. There's a distinct lack of cohesion across the individual songs. GRIEF feels like dropping a puzzle on the floor and putting the picture back together wrong.
The intro track "The Bird, The Lion, and the Wildkin" holds promise on outset, but ultimately lacks in intensity. Leading right into track "Fend You Off", the same staleness follows what is otherwise a lyrically a brilliant song. The droning, fuzzy guitar licks lying underneath notable wordplay takes away from the lyrics, and lacks a depth that the song is begging for. The track ends with a smidge of playful black metal that doesn't give the song complexity like when they've used this mechanic before. Next song "Kilonova" strikes a mid-tempo beat that comes across as lacking energy rather than purposeful progression.
Slowing things down even further, "Are You the Only One Now" is a song I want to like but rather it comes across as lackadaisical and low-effort. Half-way through were met again with black metal influence, but it fails to impress. Yet another song with ear-catching lyrics, the music behind the powerful vocals fails to hold up to what is being sung.
Things start to turn around in "Go Home my Friend". The composition here is more focused and quite literally pounds. Followed by "Clawing Out", it begs the question – where did those first 4 tracks come from? "Clawing Out" has the intensity and weirdness that I was searching for. To be clear, I love slower ballad-style music, but their attempt at it in the first quarter of the album was not successful. The songs are so close to greatness, but lack a magical quality that Zeal & Ardor are known for delivering in spades. "Clawing Out" dabbles in hard-hitting techno-style beats and erratic pacing that excites – a welcome change.
"Disease" takes the pace back down into another lackluster song. It almost has a road-crusin' feel, but doesn't commit to the styling. It's a smart song that somehow just doesn't hook you in. The next short song "369" is catchy but it only lasts 0:55 seconds. Following track "Thrill" is another attempt at a road song that is executed better than "Disease". It seems that Zeal & Ardor are hell bent on making this atmosphere work with guitars that sound like they were recorded underwater, and this is their best attempt at it so far on the album. Coming out of left field is vocal-less "Une Ville Vide" that is a pretty, dreamy, synthy interlude. "Sugarcoat" is the next track that actually works with the ultra-stylized guitar and overall rhythmic pacing. Next to "Clawing Out", it's the next best track off of GRIEF.
"Solace" is the best track on the album. It's quiet and moody, dark and striking. I love the vocals of Manuel Gagneux – growly, clean, or anything in between. "Solace" features his clean vocals that are sharp and captivating. It ends with the best most exciting slice of black metal on the album.
"Hide in Shade" is familiar for the band and refreshing for an ending song. I in no way want Zeal & Ardor to stop experimenting; however, "Hide in Shade" reminds me of older albums from the band since it hits that sweet spot of blending genres into a fantastic song soup. Final track "To My Ilk" is also a success. The song feels as though you're exploring a misty mire – mysterious and inviting.
Zeal & Ardor's prior albums are all such focused and well composed works that stand apart from one another in their uniqueness and vision. GRIEF too stands out, but not in a way that I would have hoped. I really, really wanted to love this album and listened to it many times before making this review. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't misconstruing what might otherwise be another masterpiece in their discography. If I had to guess, I'd venture that nothing is going to stop Zeal & Ardor from pursuing their heart's desires, making the music with every tool and idea which comes into their arsenal. In fact, GRIEF comes across as a much more personal album, as opposed to prior albums that felt defiant and deafeningly loud in their meaningful attitudes.
Zeal & Ardor – don't stop. Whatever you do, keep making music. I'm sure that there will be listeners out there who wholeheartedly disagree with me and find what I couldn't in this album. GRIEF is hopeful, sorrowful, and everything in between, but ultimately, the song composure and the hallmark passion of Zeal & Ardor just didn't come together on this release.
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