The African American Soul/Gospel influenced black metal of Zeal & Ardor's music is the brainchild of musician Manuel Gagneux.

He moved from his native Switzerland to New York, and took up the moniker Zeal & Ardor, having previously released music under the name Birdmask. The chamber pop of his Birdmask recordings is a far cry from the darker, heavier music he created for his Zeal & Ardor debut Devil Is Fine. He released the record in 2016, and Gagneux claims the project was kickstarted by a thread on a music board on the website 4Chan, on which he was posting anonymously. On hearing the record, some music journalists were convinced that the vocal chants were samples of old spirituals, but Gagneux insisted that all the vocals were his own work.