Live Review: Zeal and Ardor at Electric Brixton (13/11/2022)

The rise of Zeal and Ardor has been quite a phenomenal thing really. I guess it only feels that way if you have been onboard from or near the beginning. I was lucky to come across Zeal and Ardor by chance, when the project was still a project. A one-man band, created by the wonderful Manuel Gagneux, who released music mostly for his own amusement, combining chain gang/slave chants with traditional Black Metal and creating a truly unique sound.

That first release was titled, Devil is Fine and such was its popularity as an independent release that it caught the attention of Radicalis Music and MVKA who rereleased it under their umbrella to push a more global marketing campaign. And so Zeal and Ardor started to become known to the wider world. Fast forward a bit to 2017 and Zeal and Ardor, now with a touring band, are playing at a sold out The Underworld in Camden with Manuel Gagneux setting up his own gear. A show that lives on in my memory as being the point where my love of this new band became firmed up and justified, as they owned that venue.

Then followed the bands stunning follow up to Devil is Fine with Stranger Fruit and an album launch show in Shoreditch. With each release, and each show, the band members became more permanent, and Zeal and Ardor felt like a growing force despite Manuel still coming across a little awkward in his interactions with the crowd, in an endearing way. The growth continued, and suddenly, this little project was playing a fully sold-out Electric Ballroom in London, a mere 18 months after I first saw them at The Underworld. Meteoric, is the word. And what a show it was, recorded and released as a Live in London vinyl/cd, the band looked at ease and had a real and powerful identity.

The line-up was firm, the catalogue, immense and here we are 4 years later. Zeal and Ardor are out on the road touring their 3rd album, the self-titled Zeal and Ardor to a surely sold-out Electric Brixton as the last stop in the UK of what appears to be a fully sold-out tour, or at least close to it.

It’s a gloomy Sunday night in November, with work and life commitments, Sunday gigs aren’t a favourite but when Zeal and Ardor are in town, you have to make an effort. Unfortunately, the wonderful Heriot, the main support, have taken ill but are replaced with Lake Malice.

Unfortunately, that Sunday night troubles meant we couldn’t be there for the start of the show and the support act but made it in with enough time to grab a piss poor drink and prepare for the main event. Electric Brixton isn’t a venue I have been to before so didn’t know what to expect. To be fair to it, it is a decent venue. Laid out pretty well with many good viewing vantage points and the sound is really good. It also suffers from the typical venue problem.

Despite being in a part of London that has a plethora of good drinking holes and craft beers, and its own popular Brixton Brewery, the venue sells shit beer in cans – I never understand it, Brixton venues don’t even support their local Brewery. £6 for a can of Budweiser sucks, I would happily pay that, and more, for a pint of Electric Brixton or Coldharbour. Still, we buy the shit beer and so why would they ever change, I guess?

So, to the important stuff, I have my warm 3/4 of a plastic cup of beer ready as Zeal and Ardor take to the stage to rapturous applause. The first noticeable thing is that the band seem to be a couple members light. We find out from Manuel a little later that both backing singers have also now taken ill. He tells us his choice was to cancel or carry on regardless. Thankfully he carried on but it does make a difference to the overall performance, having the backing come from record instead of live. Not their fault, it just cuts into the overall atmosphere a little.

One of the things I am most looking forwards to this time round is hearing some of the new tracks, from the Zeal and Ardor album. They don’t disappoint, getting underway straight off the bat with Church Burns and then Götterdämmerung both songs showing the range of vocal excellence Manuel has alongside a mix of eerie, sombre melody and crushing black metal beats and riffs. The band sound really powerful, the lighting adding to their stage presence as well. You can see from the crowd that they are 100% into this as the pit swells and heads bang in every direction.

Zeal and Ardor have a formidable catalogue now and they start tapping into that with a look back to the Stranger Fruit days and a favourite of mine, Ship On Fire followed by Row Row. Two more immense sounding tracks that keep the ignited crowd sparking. We jump back even further to Devil is Fine for the beastly Blood in the River, a track that shows how much power Manuel can generate in his blackened roars and screams. Gravediggers Chant, Run and We Can’t Be Found come next with sporadic crowd interaction from frontman Manuel Gagneux.

Something he seems mostly more comfortable with these days, not 100%, and that is part of their charm, but he has clearly grown, and is growing still, into a masterful frontman for a band. We head into EP territory next with Tuskegee from the band’s Wake of a Nation release followed by a crunchy rendition of Feed the Machine. Some more favourites for me come in a row next, in a setlist full of favourites with the immense and beautiful Golden Liar and then the spine tingling and neck breaking Death to the Holy. The latter in particular seeing a full mosh pit in movement with crowd surfers appearing from most corners of the room.

Trust No One, the stunning Erase and Don’t You Dare lead us towards the end of the main part of the show as the band continue their energetic and enthusiastic performance. Closing out the main portion of the set is the song that started it all, a song that is as impactful today as ever and a song that cannot be really explained, it just has to be experienced live. Devil is Fine is a dark and captivating song that has every person in the crowd singing along passionately. This is their anthem, the song that caused a spark that grew into this inferno of a band, and it is perfect.

Roars of approval fall upon the band as they go through the motions of pretending it is over and waving goodbye. It’s a strange thing that, the pretend end these days. It’s quite humorous I guess, and the band comment on it as they return to the stage to deliver an encore. An encore I am particularly excited by as I am still waiting for my favourite of favourite tracks. Returning to the jamming track, J-M-B, the band jump into I Caught You before the big real finale which turns out to not be the song, I was hoping for but instead is another banger, Baphomet.

Another fine track and brilliant rendition, though fancy having such a back catalogue now that you drop Come On Down? Still, I can’t be disappointed for long as the show comes to a close cementing, yet again, that Zeal and Ardor are phenomenal and will continue to be so. They continue to grow as a band, continue to add to their catalogue and they really are on course to be one of the biggest bands in our world. The next time I see these guy’s will be with them headlining the Sophie Lancaster tent at Bloodstock Festival next summer. Yet another step forwards for them where I am confident, they will be one of the bands of the weekend.

For tonight though, as we make our way out into the cold night air, you just can’t help but be wowed by this band and everything they do. Zeal and Ardor continue to rise, continue their growth and continue to blow me away.

Links

Website | Bandcamp