Heavy and metal meets minimal in this sneaky release on Seattle’s SubPop Records.
If by some chance you are unfamiliar with Zeal & Ardor and their inauspicious beginnings, allow me to paint a picture: Imagine you take requests/ideas as a challenge to write a song using two seemingly disparate song genres on a forum and you get a very edgelord/trollish reply. Now imagine you fulfill that request and then somehow the idea lands! Fast forward mere months, and suddenly you have a career that blossoms faster than most would dream of.
Mastermind and key player Manuel Gagnuex combines black metal with Afro-spiritual music. The theme dances around an idea: if the African-American slave had chosen the Devil as their savior instead. Many themes throughout his music and lyrics are taken from the Keys of Solomon and other ancient texts. Manuel does not give a whole lot of information with regard to his very intentional and calculated lyrics. He wants the listener to draw their own interpretations. So I will do my best here not to insert any interpretation, but whet your appetite for this two-song preview of the band’s upcoming album.
I want to start with the second track of this single: Cinq. It begins and ends with a very simple and catchy synth/keyboard melody that is later layered with analog piano. I am particularly fond of the lo-fi feel and sound of this track. Enough that you can hear and feel the weight of the keys as they are played. One can imagine how this album will play on vinyl!
Firewake opens with Manuel’s signature mournful voice, later joined by his two cantor voices. We hear a booming heartbeat drum rhythm bringing some chaos alongside Manuel’s cutting lyrics. Funky bass thumbing deeply on the strings before joining into almost guitar range in thunderous harmony with the lead guitar. In almost Jekyll and Hyde fashion, Manuel gives us his other signature voice: serpent-Esque screams. The chorus contains his viperine delivery of German lyrics: “das ist Krieg” (this is war) gegen jeden” (against everyone).
This single was very quietly released on SubPop Records yesterday; much like Wake Of A Nation in 2020. If anything, Zeal & Ardor albums always deliver heaviness and darkness in perfect unison with vulnerability. I have no doubt the next full-length installment will be as distinctive and fervent as ever!
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