They do this soul-blues-metal whatever the third time, and it still works. I postponed playing this record for a long time because I thought two albums of this was probably enough, but here I am, finally listening to the third one, and it’s still great. It’s rawer and more metal-like than the previous ones perhaps, but I cannot even imagine repeating that smash-in-the-face-feeling of their first arrival when this whole style just blasted into the music scene.
Btw, it’s still hard to believe how ahead of the curve I was being on a Zeal & Ardor concert in a club in 2017, at the very moment when the first album dropped. And now, I cannot get a ticket to their stadium tour in town. But, they deserve all the fame and success, I just wish that they keep going.
I also feel like I don’t want to put them in a box and want them to stay there for ever. I can easily imagine this style to evolve and grow beyond what it is now. There’s already a process there that I see in their three-record span, and this is a band I wish won’t be afraid to reach further and innovate more.
