Following on from the success of their 2018 debut album Lightbringer, Scandinavian sludge savants Black Royal return early next year with their creed crushing new album, Firebride, on Suicide Records.
Formed in 2013 in Tampere, Finland, the quartet revisits their highly infectious brew of metal as they usher in their latest foray into the fields of Wicca with first single, ‘Pagan Saviour’, due for digital release on 1st November 2019.
“The song was inspired by the witch hunts, paganism and war between early Christianity and ancient mythology,” explains Black Royal’s vocalist, Riku. “It’s about how the church forced common people to follow their laws and rules and criminalized all other ways of life in order to control citizens and the state.”
Sonically with ‘Pagan Saviour’, the band’s sound is one step removed from their previously considered style of “Death Blues” and takes clear influence from black metal and modern sludge. Raw but bombastic in its bastard portrayal of mood, beguiling riffs and measured choruses that pitch the band somewhere between the dramaturgy of Ghost and brutality of Behemoth.
As the first searing first cut from Firebride (due for release on 14th February 2020 on Suicide Records) ‘Pagan Saviour’ was recorded live in Studio Watercastle – a small town in rural part of the Pirkanmaa region of Finland – and later completed in September at the band’s own Armless HQ studio; mixed by Jussi Kulomaa and mastered by Jaakko Viitalähde.
Stream and share the brand-new video for ‘Pagan Saviour’, ahead of its official release on 1st November 2019 here – https://youtu.be/7vFf988zDZM
BLACK ROYAL:
Jukka – Drums, Percussion
Pete – Bass, Backing Vocals
Riku – Vocals
Toni – Guitars, Backing Vocals
