Zeal & Ardor’s widely praised second album, Stranger Fruit, was released by MVKA in 2018, following the global attention-getting, multi-million streamed debut Devil Is Fine. Critically acclaimed across the industry, The Guardian newspaper described Stranger Fruit as “extraordinary and brilliant” upon release. Upset wrote it was “a compelling listen,” Metal Hammer applauded its “sheer musical brilliance,” with Rock Sound concluding, it was “one of the most uniquely daring and wholly affecting albums of 2018 so far,” plus further plaudits rolling in from SiriusXM, Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, Noisey, Alternative Press, Revolver, Pitchfork, and more. By Christmas 2018, the UK’s largest free newspaper Metro declared Stranger Fruit their #2 Album of the Year in a cross-genre list, declaring “in this jaw-dropping meld of black American folk music and black metal, the Swiss artist Manuel Gagneux has hit upon something genuinely original.” In March 2019, following a blistering set in London the previous December, the band went on to release the double live album Live In London. Then, in October 2020, amidst a provocative and stimulating 18-month profound period of reflection — that led to the writing of the forthcoming self-titled album — the band quietly shared the striking, standalone 6-track EP Wake Of A Nation. Their intense third album, crystalizing everything the band is, was released in February 2022.