Zeal & Ardor - Greif

I'm sure spell check will appreciate that spelling.

Zeal & Ardor came out of nowhere for me, and they instantly became one of my current favorite bands. Their third album may have actually knocked off Taylor Swift's Midnights from my top three of 2022. I've since gone back to their other albums and can't stop getting them stuck in my head. My bangers list is full of ZaA.

But now it's a new album! Greif, which, I've been told, is the German word for gryphon, is a new story. Zeal & Ardor's last three albums have told the tale of an alternative America, where slaves realized the Bible was keeping them in chains. They turned to Satan and went to war against their enemies. On first (and second) listen, that epic is over. Is this a new tale, or am I just imagining it? I'll talk a little about the musical and lyrical qualities of a song and then go into detail about how I think this is a concept album. Maybe vice versa...

Track one is a short intro. It sets up the story with a shock appearance of "the bird, the lion, and the wildkin," which is how to describe a gryphon. The lyrics are five lines: a declaration of war. They've been waiting for this, and they're never gonna stop. "Here's to the dead." The prevailing music motif is a civil war drum snare beat with a mildly disturbing child's choir in the background. The standard ZaA guitar tone plays to remind us who wrote this, but this song simply sets things up.

"Fend You Off" was an early single. The video is a woman driving a car with the word "Descendent" in the corner, with the description referencing the "Heir of the Gryphon." It also mentions a resistance. ZaA shows off the disturbed sing-song lyrics Manny has brought to previous albums. Rather than go through each line, I'll suggest that the song was about a chosen one type of being, but they don't feel happy with this destiny. They've "eaten the lies to fend you off" and have been clenching fists and grinding teeth. Is this how they become better than the "next of our very kin"? I guess that's why they fight each other.

"Kilonova" is a real world thing. It's a magnetic burst from outer space. It has the power to wipe out all life on Earth, so I guess it's why it's a good metaphor for the arrival of this unnamed enemy. The word "Dessa" (meaning wanderer) is repeated often, so I'll call them Dessa. There's more of that sing-song singing, which gets really unsettling with lines like "Bring the son, bring the father and the nun. As we'll never feel the meaning if we didn't die…Bring the salt, bring the circle and the chalk. And we'll never make a promise if we didn't lie." It's something I can randomly see myself singing in the shower. But this is the inciting incident of our tale. Musically, there's one riff that drones on through the entirety of the track. It's very ZaA, even if the riff isn't something out of spirituals or metal. A commentator on YouTube said it reminds them of a heartbeat. There's also a weirdly jaunty but scary bass behind it. The key changes to something higher for the chorus. It's a very unsettling song. Drags on a bit, though.

"Are you the only one now" is about the survivors of the initial attack. They try to move slow and fear to even breathe too hard. Everything is "embers" now. As you'd expect, it's tonally depressing. A single guitar (that I don't think is tuned correctly) slowly strums a dissonant chord progression. It's occasionally joined by an electric guitar that plays the credits of the bad ending of a movie. Halfway through, though, it suddenly turns into some black metal with low screams and fast guitars. It represents that the bad ending isn't over yet. Kinda drags a bit, though.

"Go home, my friend" is about those still trying to live. They dream of making it through the night and getting to safety. They hope others do, too. Some try to sail away or hop a train. But hope is fleeting. Many ask for rope and want others to remind them god isn't coming. Classic Zeal & Arder show up with their slavery inspired call and response techniques. The guitars are even reminiscent of that era, too. It ramps up from an acapella song to what critics may call an "imagine dragons" song where they bring up the devil. Oddly, it ends with a synth…

"Clawing Out" is vintage ZaA. It has Latin words! It's staccato and disturbing, and it jumps around from one line to another, verse to chorus. The Latin chanting even grows more and more unsettling. The Latin words apparently translate to a justifiable evil deed (Genius.com). It's a song that is as frantic as a rock track can get and works for this album. Lyrically, this is when the "hero" from song three starts to fight back against the Dessa. But the "hero" isn't sure who he is or what he's fighting for. The song drags on for a while, but it works here.

"Disease" is when the hero joins the good guys, but the good guys don't like him. Someone is called a "disease," and the line "Insisting that you're kind but you're the enemy" is a pretty damning indictment. Alternatively, it could be about a group of people who want the speaker to be a hero, but the hero knows they can't trust them, "them" being humans and all. I think the second view fits more with the second half of the album. Musically, it oozes desert stoner rock vibes. With a driving drum intro followed by a fat bass melody beneath a guitar that's playing something on the body frets, this isn't a typical ZaA track. There's not a lot of variation in the track, so it really drags on for a while… This song did not need to be 4:30 minutes.

"369" is a quick reminder that someone(s) is a devil. He ain't dead, and things will be written in gold. Griffons protected gold in mythology, so I assume it's about the hero. Perhaps they're wanted by both sides? The speakers talk about being the "left hand path," so it's definitely from Dessa. This is a good reminder that this is a ZaA song. It mostly stomps, claps, and natural clangs.

"Thrill" is my favorite song on the album. The hero has started fighting, and they're a big fan of it. They "don't feel anymore. Baffled by the thrill of it all." I'm not sure what the "cut your bombadiers" means, though. The uselessness of manmade weaponry? I said it was my favorite, but the music is kinda generic rock. It's fun and gets into your ear by being weirdly danceable, but it's probably the least traditional ZaA song in an album that doesn't sound very ZaA.

"une ville vide" is an instrumental. The title means an empty city in French. It's a two minute electronic build up.

"Sugarcoat" has very few lyrics: eight lines and an oft repeated chorus. Of all my guesses about lyrical meaning, this is my worst idea because I don't know… Another inciting incident? It mentions coming alive and feeling alone a lot. There's also a shockingly disturbed "la la lalala" all over the place. It sounds like an old Queens of the Stone Age song. And that's a good thing.

"Solace" is the beginning of the end. It's depressing for all the reasons a song could be. Whatever made the hero feel alone in the last song is now making them think that "There is solace and hope/In the end of your rope/To be sharp as a blade." It's a somber piano song, but the almost black metal guitars try to pop in late.

"Hide in Shade" is a Zeal & Ardor song. It flips back and forth from spiritual call and response to black metal speed screams. The lyrics show when the hero realizes they can't do anything. "It's gonna burn" is spammed throughout. They know they'll be gone soon, so they're talking to someone else. One day, others will talk about this person. Sometimes good ("sing"), sometimes bad ("scream"). "Burn your hope, it's only gonna hold you back" is repeated at the end. The video shows a gryphon egg, so is this a message to a child?

"To my ilk" is the final song. It's another message to the child about their future: a warning. Strangers will one day come to hunt them to "make you pay." But others will worship them. "Wrapped in finest cloth and finest silk." It will be up to them to bring peace. The video is a gryphon doing a Batman pose. Why does it have holes in it? Regardless, the entire song is a depressing but fast guitar (or two) with clapping to keep the rhythm. I would consider this a ZaA song, and it ending the album on a sad note is perfect.


The ending kinda confuses me. Where did this child come from? When was another person mentioned? Could it have been an unknown object in Sugercoat? Of course, this assumes this is a concept album that tells a cohesive story. It could just be an anthology with a common theme.

In an interview with Keranng, Manuel Gagneux described a ceremony from his home in Switzerland about a man dressed as a gryphon "sticking his ass out to the man." The event is a tradition called Vogel Gryff, where the working class shows their disdain for the rich across the Rhine River. He even mentions how so much hippocracy is involved around this event and the band.

In that same interview, he states that all the songs are just about how he was feeling that day when writing, and it combines the grief of all the new band members who have, up to now, just been touring musicians. This is the first Zeal & Ardor album where Manny wasn't the sole contributor. And that's likely why it's such a strange album, even by the standards of a strange band. In a way, it's the first album from a new band.

—

Skill) Nothing about this album sucks, even if it doesn't necessarily sound like Zeal and Ardor. And the lyrics are still fun to decipher. 2/2

Variation) This is a weird one. Most songs are different from one another, and many get frantic and shift throughout. But, yowie wowie, do they drag on for a while… 1/2

Bangers) We've got a record (for this year) of four! 2/2

Replayability) I think I'm already up to eight times through this album, and I'm still not sick of it. And it's still ZaA, so I'm gonna listen to their old stuff, too. 2/2

Extras) I think this might be too short of an album… I'm missing one track to explain where that egg came from. That aside, I loved what I listened to and want to dig more into this potential concept album I may have made up. 1/2

So Greif by Zeal & Ardor gets an 8/10.


Many reviewers are disappointed with this album, but I don't get why. The songs are still fun to listen to, and I love the backstory of making the touring musicians into full fledged band members. It's like a union! What's further confusing me is ZaA is, by design, a strange band. An avant-garde band wrote an avant-garde album, and people are mad. Go figure…