Zeal & Ardor

Zeal & Ardor is a Swiss avant-garde metal band started and led by Manuel Gagneux, a Swiss-American musician who had previously created a chamber pop project called Birdmask. Formed in 2013, the band mixes sounds of African-American spirituals with black metal.
Initially a solo project, the band signed with MVKA records in 2016 and expanded to a full lineup, with Gagneux on vocals and guitar, backing vocalists Denis Wagner and Marc Obrist, guitarist Tiziano Volante, bassist Mia Rafaela Dieu, and drummer Marco Von Allmen. The project started in New York City, but is now based in Basel, Switzerland.
Zeal & Ardor have released the albums Devil Is Fine (2016), and Stranger Fruit (2018), as well as a demo album Zeal and Ardor (2014). In 2020, they released their first EP, Wake of a Nation. A third studio album, Zeal & Ardor, was released in February 2022.