10 Best Metal Bands Of The Last 10 Years
3. Zeal & Ardor
It’s hard to find continually new ways to say just how f*cking excellent Zeal & Ardor are. After all, the one-man black metal powerhouse have earned high spots on a good number of music lists here at WhatCulture, including an enviable bronze medal ranking in our “50 Best Metal Albums of 2017” piece.
Furthermore, if you’ve ever taken the time to listen to Zeal & Ardor or their eclectic genre-bender of a debut album, Devil Is Fine, you already know just how great Manuel Gagneaux’s solo venture truly is. But, for those who somehow remain uninitiated, strap yourselves in!
The group are one that blend the dissonant extremity of titans from Wolves in the Throne Room to Dark Tranquillity with African-American spirituals. Zeal & Ardor explicitly ponder what would happen if the Christian hymns that early slaves would hum to themselves were instead dedicated to the evil grandeur of Satan.
What results is a blasphemous songbook that reflects its unhallowed title with an ingeniously subversive tone. At one second, Devil Is Fine will be whistling out dulcet melodies and, at the next, it will be ripping your head off with guttural guitar riffing.
Praise be to Lucifer, because this demonic jamboree is as postmodern as it is magnificent!