ELVENKING Premiere Official Lyric Video For ‘Herdchant’ Track
April 28th, 2023
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Italian power / folk metal band Elvenking have released an official lyric video for the track ‘Herdchant’, which can be viewed below.
Elvenking issued 11th full-length studio album Reader Of The Runes – Rapture on April 28th, 2023 through AFM Records.
“We feel stronger than ever,” frontman and vocalist Damna commented. “I believe after so many years we have gained full confidence in what we do and especially in what we want to achieve. The path in front of us is clear. We have left behind all fancies, inexperience and immaturity and we know inherently what is possible and what is not.”
Reader Of The Runes – Rapture was written between 2020 and 2022, and was recorded between May and October 2022 by the band and producer Scott Atkins, who additionally handled mixing and mastering duties. Former Draconian vocalist Heike Langhans lends backing vocals to the track ‘Bride Of Night’.
“We record ourselves for almost 20 years now,” guitarist Aydan said. “I believe we have a crystal clear vision of what we need for each album in terms of production, sound, arrangements and performances. We are so focused on our music that I’m pretty sure we can be the only ones to manage the whole process to get the result we have in our minds.”
Reader Of The Runes – Rapture marks the recording debuts of guitarist HeadMatt and drummer Symohn. “The chemistry inside the band is perfect at the moment,” Aydan said. “Everyone in the band is perfectly aware of his role inside a complex mechanism such as Elvenking. This is fundamental in order to avoid cracks in the gear to proceed under full sail.”
Reader Of The Runes – Rapture acts as a a sequel to 2019 effort Reader Of The Runes – Divination.
“How would we have approached musically the second chapter of the Reader Of The Runes trilogy?,” guitarist Aydan and vocalist Damna stated. “That’s a question we asked ourselves many times before finalizing the songwriting process.“ Damna and Aydan explain. “Working both on Reader Of The Runes – Rapture Part 2 and Part 3 at the same time, really helped us spread the songs, the lyrics and the atmospheres on the whole remaining part of the story as the development of the events needed a strong backing from the music. So, Part 2 is indeed darker, it needed to be tragic and violent and this gave us the chance to fully breathe the soundscape we already had in mind as we started to write songs in early 2020. We feel that with this album we have cast a milestone and set a further limit in what we can do by mixing wisely what we deeply love in metal. We are very satisfied with all the shades that compose these eleven songs; altogether they make a canvas we are very proud of. Part 3 instead will explore the disclosure of all the mysteries narrated in the first two chapters and for this very reason you’ll have to expect even further different musical nuances in the future of this trilogy.”
The track listing is as follows:
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01. ‘Rapture’
02. ‘The Hanging Tree’
03. ‘Bride Of Night’
04. ‘Herdchant’
05. ‘The Cursed Cavalier’
06. ‘To The North’
07. ‘Covenant’
08. ‘Red Mist’
09. ‘Incantations’
10. ‘An Autumn Reverie’
11. ‘The Repentant’
Elvenking’s line-up is as follows:
Damna (vocals)
Aydan (guitars)
Rafahel (guitars)
Jakob (bass)
Lancs (drums)
Lethien (violin)
A music video was filmed for the track ‘Rapture’. “After three years of absence, we decided to give our fans a taste of the album that could be as plenty as possible,” guitarist Aydan and vocalist Damna commented. “‘Rapture’ is one of the longest tracks of the lot and we feel it has all the epicness, the tragic nature and most of the nuances that the album incorporates in its entire length, so this is what we wanted to offer to our listeners as a first glimpse of Reader Of The Runes – Rapture. Also, lyrically it is the perfect link between the previous chapter and this one, as it is the Introduction. The story opens on the Reader Of The Runes himself and we read about his mindset and plans before the climax that will be described in the rest of the songs.”
In addition, a music video was filmed for the song ‘Bride Of Night’, directed by Matteo Ermeti. “It surely represents the more melodic side of our sound, yet dark and melancholic,” Elvenking said. “We know that a lot of our fans love this side of Elvenking, so this is also a gift to you. Reader Of The Runes – Rapture will collect all of the shades of our sound from the more aggressive ever, to songs like ‘Bride Of Night’ so, by listening to the entire album you will travel through a multitude of nuances and atmospheres – we cannot wait for you to hear it in all its epicness!
“Heike Langhans offered her beautiful voice in the chorus backing Damna vocals. The amazing video is once again directed by Matteo Ermeti who did with us ‘Silverseal’ and he couldn’t better envision the story – a glimpse of painful romance that captures one of the chapters of the story.”
Also, an official lyric video was created for the track ‘The Hanging Tree’. “‘The Hanging Tree’ is a song that sets a violent darker tone as we dive deep into the core of the story narrated in the second part of the Reader Of The Runes trilogy,” Elvenking said. “If ‘Rapture’ was more epic, slow paced and filled with many different shades and textures, ‘The Hanging Tree’ is a merciless fast cavalcade that goes straight to the point with a heavy fast riffing, melodic yet aggressive vocals, big choirs in the chorus, two insane guitar solos and a folk break in the middle that our dear Elvenking fans will definitely love. It will surely be a highlight in our forthcoming live shows.”
All three clips can also be viewed below.
Tenth studio record Reader Of The Runes – Divination was released in August 2019 via AFM.
