Zeal & Ardor Bare Teeth And Nails On Hauntingly Heavy New Single ‘Clawing Out’.

“We like to surprise people.” – Manuel Gagneux.One would be hard pressed to find a better description in five words for Zeal & Ardor’s post black metal formula; and who better to do so than the mastermind behind the project himself Mr Gagneux. The (now) sextet have recently announced their fourth studio album GREIF to be released on August 23 and after sharing their mellow and soulful composition ‘to my ilk’ last month, Z&A have returned with fiery venom on second single ‘Clawing Out’.

As Manuel elaborates – “So of course after releasing our softest song to date with ‘to my ilk’ we want to create some whiplash with ‘Clawing out’! Not satisfied with a mere heavy riffed song, we elected to borrow some elements from other musical styles to further the impact. Revel with us in righteous violence – justificatum malum factum.”

As is well known, the six-piece’s thrilling theatrical coalescence of neo-soul, traditional blues, “slave music”, rhythm and blues, and extreme black metal is almost revolutionary and in a league of its own. With ‘Clawing Out’ though, the outfit has remarkably amplified their approach to heavy music yet again. Beginning with a pulsing guitar wringing, the percussion then joins in with stampeding force – it is a brilliant sinister blueprint that Lamb Of God would hold in high regard. Manuel then eerily enters with a spoken word statement of: “To not heed the call is cowardice” before aggressively chanting the message of the song “Justificatum malum factum”. In Latin, this is translated to: “A justifiable evil deed” – whether this is the song’s true undertone, only Gagneux truly knows.

The sound exploration expands further as the track progresses. Some pitch-shifting squeals act as a discreet siren-song addition magnifying the single’s mystifying aura. “Rise to the flesh when the last drop dries” is disturbingly uttered as the tempo increases and Zeal enter nu-metal territory. Its malicious spirit would work flawlessly to a soundtrack in a distressing horror film and this scribe dares the witnesses to not undergo this whole journey.

In-all-likelihood, Zeal & Ardor’s Claws will latch on and not let go until the entrancing wretchedness is over. Good GREIF this full-length is going to be monstrous.

Words by Will Oakeshott @TeenWolfWill

Pre-order GREIF here

Zeal & Ardor – GREIF tracklisting

1. the Bird, the Lion, and the Wildkin
2. Fend You Off
3. Kilonova
4. are you the only one now?
5. Go home my friend
6. Clawing out
7. Disease
8. 369
9. Thrill
10. une ville vide
11. Sugarcoat
12. Solace
13. Hide in Shade
14. to my ilk