Stranger Fruit

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

After a false start (I listened to Zeal & Ardor's "Devil is Fine" album because the Apple link took me there and I wasn't paying attention) I got to this album. Interesting fusion of genres that I did find quite interesting. Not surprised that a lot of people might get turned off by this African-spirituals-meets-Nine-Inch-Nails vibe but I kind of loved how different it was.

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.

Zeal & Ardor, despite the name, is actually a project from one guy who expanded it into a full band. The driving creative concept of the project was to blend African-American spirituals with metal, which to my knowledge has never been done before. While novel, Stranger Fruit sounds a little unfocused in execution. Songs range from spirituals with ambient post-metal elements to heavy blues rock songs to straight up black metal. While there's nothing wrong with exploring all these ideas on an album, it would help to write the songs and order the tracklist with forward momentum in mind. Instead, much of Stranger Fruit sounds like attempting to do the spirituals-metal blend 16 different times, with some of them sounding like false starts. By the second half of the album the novelty has worn off and I'm just sorta waiting for it to end. I don't think this was a bad album, but it definitely needs some more sculpting in order to make it something more worthwhile. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Even if it was a better album, I'm not sure if it's notable enough to warrant its inclusion.

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.

Been a big fan for a number of years now.

Weirdo metal

I guess you could call soulful whiteboy singing mixed with a bit of metal avant-garde. Not my type though