Worldwide success with gospel metal

Basel-based Manuel Gagneux's band mixes black metal and gospel. With this spectacular mix he creates completely new music and enjoys success around the world.

Zeal & Ardor are one of the most famous Swiss acts abroad today. It all started with an experiment: dual Swiss-American citizen Manuel Gagneux asked on an internet forum which musical styles were absolutely necessary to combine. Black metal and gospel were the answer. Manuel Gagneux, who as a musician at the time still called himself Birdmask, experimented with this combination. In 2017, he released the solo album “Devil Is Fine” under the name Zeal & Ardor. This generated much enthusiasm from the international music media, so Gagneux expanded his project into a live band: it includes guitarist and singer Gagneux, who also writes the music, guitarist Tiziano Volante, bassist Lukas Kurmann (successor to Mia Rafaela Dieu), drummer Marco von Allmen and singers Denis Wagner and Marc Obrist. Appearances at important metal festivals such as the Wacken Open Air in northern Germany as well as numerous tours across Europe and the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil followed. The story of this success is told in the 2023 film “Play with the Devil”, which was released in cinemas both in Switzerland and abroad.

With the albums “Stranger Fruit” (2018) and “Zeal & Ardor” (2022), Manuel Gagneux deepens his own innovative metal style. Zeal & Ardor's latest album, "GREIF", which will be released in August 2024, has lost none of this rebellious and restless spirit.