It’s coming to that time of the year where I like to look through the festivals I plan to attend and pick out the bands I want to photograph/check out. Reading Festival is no exception here, however on doing some research of some of the lesser known names to me I discovered something so unique it filled me with a whole bunch of what the hell?!

Zeal & Ardor is just a guy, Manuel Gagneux and he with a collective of friends backing him, they have produced ‘Devil Is Fine’. This is a record like no other that I have ever heard. Simply, he has drawn backgrounds from haunting American slavery gospel music and soul, whilst mixing it with electronic samples (almost children’s cot mobile nursery rhymes in places), hip hop beats and a heavy splash of death metal guitars and screams. Just re-read that… yes, you didn’t imagine that concoction.

Manuel has previously stated that “Christianity was imposed upon both the Norwegians and American slaves,” and that he wondered what it would sound like if slaves had rebelled in the same fashion as the Norwegians – Satanism was used as a rebelling tool rather than a belief to these Norwegians.

What comes out at the end of that cluster equation is probably the most unique black metal (if you want to pigeon hole) record of the year. It is well worth a listen, and he could be on to something with this.