#even if it went a bit muddy compositionally

[pluto-attacks]

Screenshot redraw from Our Dining Table.

I just love the energy in this scene from ep.1

[happymetalgirl]

Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Even though it had been in on their Bandcamp page since 2016, I was glad the more official release of Zeal & Ardor’s debut album, Devil Is Fine, last year gave me the opportunity to talk about it (since I started this blog in 2017).

Originally one of multiple solo music projects by creative eccentric Manuel Gagneux, inspired by a comical suggestion on 4Chan, Gagneux recruited ful-time members to form a complete performing band after the huge wave Devil Is Fine made, and I have been so pleased to see this project grow in its short time from the enthusiasm much of the metal community has shown for such an unorthodox artist.

Devil Is Fine was a short, but wildly diverse album (only 25 minutes) that blended the soulful blues of slave spirituals and other American folk with varyingly atmospheric black metal, a idea that could have gone terribly that fortunately went terrifically. While I loved Devil Is Fine and had it as one of my top top favorites of 2017 for a good portion of the year, it ended up a little bit lower by year’s end because its short length still made it feel more like a preliminary demonstration than a fully developed exhibition. I also felt like the production on the album hindered a lot of the more explosive black metal sections and even muddied some of the lighter folky sections on the “Sacrilegium” series. The album showed a lot of potential for the future, though, and it gave me high hopes for whatever was to come next, whenever.

After the brief demonstration of stylistic boldness Devil Is Fine was, the pressure was really on Manuel Gagneux to prove Zeal & Ardor’s worth beyond its mere novelty. Judging by the swiftness of this release, I imagine he felt it necessary to strike while the iron was hot, while the buzz around the band was still going strong, a confident move I was hoping he had the substance to back up.

My hopes for the album definitely included clearer production, at least of the explosive metallic parts, than what the debut album had. And I was of course hoping the new album would feel less like a tentative casting of a musical fishing hook into the waters and more like a complete, comprehensive statement from an objective-driven artist. And for the most part Stranger Fruit delivers.

At just under 48 minutes, Stranger Fruit is almost double its predecessor’s length and one that crystallizes the best aspects of the sound of which Devil Is Fine laid the foundation. As I had hoped, the production on the metal-driven sections is improved, and even though certain atmospheric parts still sound a little grainy, it leaves a nice rawness to the album so as to prevent it from sounding overly polished. The booming drums used so frequently throughout are mixed nicely to highlight the thunder they give to the project without drowning everything else out. The slight distortion over the aggressive vocals Gagneux delivers is applied in just the right dose as well. The album also manages to hone its focus onto the blend of black metal and blues that caught so many ears last year while still finding space for Gagneux’s forays into electronic ambient music. It feels more cohesive than Devil is Fine, and still keeps that eccentricity that turns so many heads. The songs are a tiny bit longer on average and they feel mostly pretty fleshed out, though I feel like some instances certain songs feel just a little undercooked, which adds to my suspicion that there was a lot of pressure to follow up Devil Is Fine in a short time. The album certainly doesn’t feel rushed, but it has its moments where I feel like it could have invested more time. Then again, it feels like a good length as well, so perhaps Gagneux was trying to keep its length in that sweet spot.

The album starts with the humming/post-metal-tinged intro track that leads into the ambient blues-y staccato piano-led lead single “Gravedigger’s Chant”, a song that showcases the band’s ability to build to a climax not only with tools usually left unused in the metal toolbox, but also in a short amount of time. The song “Servants” amps up the black metal tremolo picking as well as Gagneux’s vocal intensity, basing its strengths on the pounding drum beat and the synchronicity of the sung refrain with the guitar. The song “Don’t You Dare” is one that was out before Devil Is Fine and features the black metal screams that populated that album. I’m not sure why it didn’t make it onto that album, but it pleases me to hear it here because it’s a powerful song whose building aggression flatters both Gagneux’s more gritty (almost growling) vocal delivery and the style over which he does it. There is a video of a live studio performance that still gives the best picture of that song. “Fire of Motion” is another impressively intense black metal tune that works together screamed sections and haunting cleans. I like the harmonized vocals that ride over the bass-led sections, as well as the dissonant guitar chord that accents the double-bass-driven part. Its quicker pace is helpful in changing up the dynamic to help the album’s flow.

The album gets its first break with the instrumental interlude, “The Hermit”, which mostly consists of some ethereal, soothing choir vocals, but soon breaks down into a minimal and somber piano section that provides a new emotional depth to the album in this time of rest, definitely a good thing before the song to come. “Row Row” is a fast-paced, panic-inducing track that features Gagneux’ most theatrical vocal performance on the album as he mutters “row, row, row you fool” in increasingly labored fashion. My only unfulfilled wish with this song is for perhaps an instrumental switch-up near the end to boost the theatrics and keep it from dragging (which it does just a tiny bit). The song “Ship on Fire” that follows though finishes the theatrical set-up “Row Row” provides with some of the most bombastic blending of apocalyptic post-metal and black metal, passionate distorted singing, and syncopated chants and drum beats. It’s a truly spectacular song that wraps so much new into what has already made Zeal & Ardor so interesting.

The album’s second single, “Waste” is probably the album’s most purely and straightforwardly blackgaze track, integrating some blast beats with reverberated shoegaze guitar strumming that would make Deafheaven feel like they’re being flirted with. The song “You Ain’t Coming Back” that follows it finds Gagneux employing a kind of 2000′s alternative rock sort of falsetto technique over a more traditional song structure that integrates some bright and pretty ethereal guitars. It’s probably one of the album’s less dramatically impressive moments, but hardly a dealbreaker on such a loaded track list. The second instrumental breather track that follows, “The Fool”, finds Gagneux playing around with the modified keyboard sounds that showed up on “Sacrilegium II” and “Sacrilegium III”, and it does feel like kind of a playful moment on the album despite the gothic-sounding chord progression of the keys.

The first track after the break, “We Can’t Be Found”, is probably the most blackened track on the album, featuring crunchy palm-muted grooves, harmonics, black metal screams, and dissonant atmosphere. It’s a package deal that’s quite well-packaged. The title track leads with a deep, creepy, kind of percussive piano rhythm over thundering toms. The ominously angelic choir vocals that line the song’s build into its unsettling climax adds to the songs eeriness just right. It’s one of the more structurally/compositionally experimental pieces, even though there is plenty of that to be found beforehand.

The album’s last keyboard-y break, “Solve”, is an appropriately shorter track (only about 80 seconds) that serves as a soothing segue into the similarly short crunchy metallic chant of “Coagula”, which builds its group chant on top of perhaps the most thunderous drums on the album and its most down-tuned chug. For some reason it reminds me of something Ghost might use as an intro to a heavier song from Meliora. I half-expected Papa Emeritus III to come in with some catchy, epic vocal melody about the devil. It’s a weird moment on the album, but I like it, and it’s an album that’s more or less founded on weirdness.

The final track on the album is the brightly Deafheaven-y blackgaze “Built on Ashes”, and it ends the record magnificently in a rush of warming post-metal guitar reverb. It’s a fantastically soulful, cathartic, and strangely optimistic closer to the album, possibly its best song.

Stranger Fruit is definitely a magnificent and well-sculpted sophomore release that proves the magic on their debut to not just be a quirky idea or its solid songwriting to be a fluke. Just about every hope I had for Zeal & Ardor to improve upon Devil Is Fine was completely realized, and then some. I definitely love this album from front to back. It’s not just a hamfisted jumble of the kinds of eccentric ideas that the band grabbed metal listeners’ attention with. The unique array of musical elements here is woven into tactful, textured compositions that suggest Gagneux’s pure comfort working with the material, if not a surprising mastery. I obviously love this album; it’s one that I think can really make a significant mark for them, and they deserve it. And for me, I think this album is going to end up as a higher favorite of the year.