A project created in 2014 by Swiss multi-instrumentalist and singer Manuel Gagneux, Zeal & Ardor has the particularity of combining metal music with spirituals and blues. At once composer, guitarist, keyboardist, programmer and vocalist formerly known as Birdmask, Manuel Gagneux is at the helm on the self-produced album Zeal and Ardor (2014) and its successor Devil Is Fine (2016). In 2017, he is joined by singer Denis Wagner, producer/vocalist Marc Obrist, guitarist Tiziano Volante, bassist Mia Rafaela Dieu (present until 2019) and drummer Marco Von Allmen, for the third album Stranger Fruit (2018), produced with Zebo Adam for the MVKA label, distributed in the UK by Radicalis. Highly acclaimed by critics, who see Zeal & Ardor as representatives of the metal avant-garde, the band tours Europe's biggest festivals, including Hellfest, Primavera Sound, Wacken Open Air and the Montreux Jazz Festival, where they record Live in Montreux (2018), followed by Live in London (2019). In 2020, the Wake of a Nation EP is released, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. With the arrival of bassist Lukas Kurmann, Zeal & Ardor record a second album of the same name, Zeal & Ardor (2022), followed by Greif (2024).
