Zeal & Ardor have generated an enormous amount of hype over the past couple of years, and for once the excitement feels justified. Their collision of black metal with blues, spirituals and gospel remains startling: heavy and groovy, doomy and catchy, familiar ingredients assembled into something that sounds genuinely new.
The presentation adds to the effect. There is something ritualistic, almost cult-like, about the six musicians lined up onstage, but none of the cartoon Satanism or obligatory demonic posing that can make occult metal so ridiculous. They don't need it. The atmosphere comes from the music and the absolute commitment with which they play it.
More importantly, underneath the concept are actual songs. The riffs may sound sick and evil, but Manuel Gagneux knows his way around a hook, and those huge, chant-like choruses give the audience something immediate to grab onto. Strip away the extreme-metal textures and some of these melodies could almost be pop songs. At La Cigale, people aren't standing around admiring the clever fusion of genres. They're singing and dancing to it.
That's what makes Zeal & Ardor's potential so intriguing. They already have the following and the identity; crucially, they also have the tunes. The underground may simply be too small to contain them for much longer.
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