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Stranger Fruit is the second studio album by avant-garde metal band Zeal & Ardor. It was released on 8 June 2018, through MVKA records. It is Zeal & Ardor's first release as a full band, previous releases were entirely composed by singer Manuel Gagneux, although Stranger Fruit only features drummer Marco Von Allmen from the full band alongside Gagneux. Expanding on the post-black metal and soul sound of their previous album, it was preceded by the singles "Gravedigger's Chant", "Waste" and "Built on Ashes". The album was released to critical acclaim, charting on several international charts, including nearly topping the Swiss album charts at number two. It was placed on year-end lists for several publications, including Decibel, The A.V. Club, Consequence of Sound and Loudwire.
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Reviews
I get why some people wouldn't like this. Blues & gospel fans may see it as too corrupted by modernity, modern stomp-clap-hey pop fans view it was too extreme, and trve kvult metalheads may see it as too compromising to pop sensibilities. But me, who enjoys all of those things to an equal degree? I'm EATIN. Catchy and heavy and unique and so excellently executed in its vision. It is just what the doctor ordered.
I appreciate what it’s trying to do but I also don’t really get a ton of enjoyment out of it
Interesting
Better than I anticipated and an interesting mix of genres, but that might be because of the short album length. Not sure I’d rate as highly if the album was 50 minutes long.
I appreciate that it was trying something... it didn't work for me but I respect the attempt. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No
This didn't make a strong impression, other than being more avant-metal. It's possible I'm just not wired up to get this genre. It wasn't unpleasant to listen to, and did go to some odd places musically. It might grow on me with repetition, though that's unlikely to occur.
I feel like this is interesting enough to count as a good share. Not a new favorite, but did keep me entertained whilst listening.
I really only enjoyed the last track, "Built on Ashes."
Credit to this LP for attempting to fuse so many genres together, but the execution falls flat. The listening experience feels scattershot and incoherent as the album introduces new sonic elements at a rapid pace, especially as those pieces fail to mesh together in any meaningful way. The audio equivalent of trying to drink a smoothie that hasn’t been fully blended, the large chunks of metal-esque instrumentation feel out of place and forced. Points for an attempt at something novel, but this LP just cannot figure out what it wants to be.
I guess you could call soulful whiteboy singing mixed with a bit of metal avant-garde. Not my type though