Year: 2024
Total Time: 42:09
Label: Self-Financed

I still remember the freshness of something different brought by the first sample of Manuel Gagneaux’s work, 2016’s “Devil Is Fine” and this otherworldly confluence of Black Metal, dark blues and weedy Gospel drawn from the voodoo superstitions of slaves, mainly from Africa. The trilogy continued with 2018’s ‘Stranger Fruit’ and 2022’s ‘Zeal And Ardor’, it’s been and gone trilogy, the theme has gone overboard and over the top in my humble opinion. “And now what do we do?” asked a worried Manuel. “We are redefining our sound, making it more personal and we no longer follow the manner of standardization and inclusion in molds” he answered and they all threw themselves into work with the result that in 5 months the material was ready for release.

Oops, I wrote “our”. Yes, it’s not a mistake, now monsieur Manuel has decided, after of course the extensive tours that either strengthen the ties between the members of a band or tear them apart and break them up, to give a step and a compositional role to the other members of the band. First of all, I make it clear that “Greif” is not even an extreme record, let alone far from the fringes of Black Metal. This is not bad, that’s just what the artist wanted, that’s what he did. The serious issue for me is the panspermia of soundscapes and timbres with an obvious eye on the West Atlantic and West Coast of North America.

The thing was even seen from, “Are You The Only One I Know” with the Cantrell-esque tinge in the vocals, the lalala and tap rap and some extreme vocals interjected serving what? Like the last song of the record that was chosen as a first single, to “My Ilk”, another melancholic, nostalgic song, ideal for closing and not for a single promoting a record, since almost always a single is a good way to foreshadow, anticipate or even surprise the listener. Opening ‘Greif’ with ‘The Bird, The Lion And The Wildkin’ prepared me for something extreme, hard hitting, instead ‘Fend You Off’ followed, a melancholic, introspective song of pain, sadness and heartbreak.

“Kilonova” winks at FOALS and it’s alternatives, although Kilonova is the collision of two Supernovas here you wouldn’t even think of such a thing, the fusion of strings (guitar and bass) with an essence of keys sounds somewhat interesting. In “Clawing Out”, which lyrically shows someone trying to get out of the mire he is stuck in, NIN industrial influences drag the wagon of unhooking but despite the effort, it remains incomplete. “Disease” and “Sugarcoat” seem to be taken from the remnants of QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, “369” is left over from the debut “Devil Is Fine”, the dancing “Thrill” raises the mood a bit with grunge aesthetics and ARCTIC MONKEYS guitars, “Une Ville Vide” is a French minimal electropop snack, “Solace” with the introspective his look acts as a precursor to the -finally- a bit wild “Hide In Shade” and a return to the ZEAL & ARDOR sound we remembered and loved.

“Greif” left me with mixed feelings, with the main feeling being that everything reminds me of something. That they were there and I didn’t notice them, because I had no reason to. But here they appeared unannounced in front of me, but the reason to engage further has now waned and the motivation has faded. If ZEAL & ARDOR once offered something new, now they are trapped in their scattered personal ideas without a clear landscape in front of them.

We will of course see them live on July 11th at Terra Vibe Park as an opening act for the “Prince of Darkness” ALICE COOPER and we will find out if they will be able to convey their darkness to the summer heat of Malakasa. “The Greif is a lion, a snake and a bird, Manuel explained to us. During the parade, he turns his back on the aristocrats and mocks them.” As if someone has seen enough MONTY PYTHONS monsieur Manuel…..

Rating: 6/10
Editor: Dimos Karadimos
Related Link: ZEAL & ARDOR – Facebook Page