Graveland Announces Hour of Ragnarok Release in Summer 2021

Iconic pagan black metal band Graveland announced yesterday that their latest offering, Hour of Ragnarok, will see release in late spring or early summer of 2021 through Forever Plagued Records on CD, Inferna Profundus Records on vinyl, and The Oath Records on cassette.

Early demos showed the band taking a more militant stance on their epic film soundtrack approach that merges layers of guitars, folk instruments, keyboards, and digital percussion to create a backdrop for eerily antisocial and occult vocals.

This shows metal returning to its roots, like the horror movies and their sound tracks that inspired the birth of the genre, but also gives bands more to work with than repeating guitar riffs over drums, a style which quickly got emulated by groups as diverse as angsty teenage wehraboos and emo soys, leading to musical abortions like Deafhaven.

Taking metal out of those dark days, Graveland has continued innovating at the intersection of several influences — movie soundtracks, traditionalist folk music, progressive rock, and occult metal — to create an evolving project in finding a voice and giving it a new direction other than demonic rebellion against a failed and corrupt order. Where most metal is still imitating the 1990s like Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, Graveland is attempting to re-orient metal toward the rebirth half of the cycle that began in death and now grows in heroism.

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5 thoughts on “Graveland Announces Hour of Ragnarok Release in Summer 2021”

  1. baba_yaga says:

    That’s real drums here, I think?…

  2. Spaniard says:

    This isn’t bad. I thought it was going to be another recycled turd, yet I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to Possessed by Steel. I don’t think it’s classic material, but it’s leaps and bounds ahead of what’s being crapped out now.

    1. RapedByTheLeftofBiden says:

      What’s not recycled about this? You should re-listen to the Cold Winter Blades EP from 2010. It’s basically the same melodies, riffs, structure…

      Graveland hasn’t done anything particular fresh since 2010 and Lord Wind died in 2012. Darken has created so much quality work, he doesn’t need to keep churning out these cosplay soundtracks.

      He’s like The Wrestler – doesn’t want to give up the illusion.

      1. Spaniard says:

        Well at least it isn’t a turd…am I right? It’s also better than most of the pap currently offered. Granted that’s not saying much, but something is better than nothing.

  3. Jim Nelson says:

    Hail the King!

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