Sweden’s future-groove overlords get the royal treatment
AS MUCH AS the arbitrary, forumsuggested origin story is embedded into band lore, ZEAL & ARDOR’s vision now feels so complete, so electrifyingly necessary that the notion this all began on a whim feels surplus to requirements. Tonight it’s clear that the ‘black metal meets slave spirituals’ tag is something of a misnomer anyway.
From the moment they appear beneath a sculpture of their sigil sending searchlights into the crowd, and soulful intro gets driven through by a tungsten-weight riff, the six-piece prove themselves to be masters of wide-ranging metal dynamics and groove in