heavy metaledenfall
03:00 Thursday, 7 July 2022
Eight years since their previous release, British folk horror metallers Edenfall have released their debut single from their forthcoming album: To Gaze Longer at the Earth which explores long-lost tales of myth and magic in Anglo-Saxon lore. Mixed and mastered by Sojourner’s Mike Lamb (Ghost Bird Studios), “The Wild Hunt” takes the listener on a journey through the misty dells riddled with fear and superstition that plagued Dark Age Britain in the latter part of the first millennia.
Edenfall are certainly no newcomers to the scene with two well-received albums already under their belt: Forever Fallen (2011) and Under Sultry Moons and Velvet Skies (2014), but this release sees the band shapeshift into a new beast. Their back catalog is awash with gothic splendor and takes heavy influence from bands such as My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, yet their new work takes on a more brutal form. With the addition of more acoustic instrumentation; including the harp, rich choral textures and bewitching chants, the stories within the landscapes that surround them now play more of a kingly role within their music.
In a statement regarding the release of “The Wild Hunt”, the band say:
“Over the past few years there has been a growing interest in Germanic folklore; Norse mythology to be specific. Whilst the tales of heroism, honor and magic within the Poetic Edda and similar prose are magnificent within their own right, we cannot help but feel that sometimes that English lore is often overlooked. Anglo-Saxon culture was rich with myth and magic within its own right; it’s just a shame that a lot of its legends have been lost over the years. As a band, we are lucky to reside on the periphery of the Cotswolds; an area of outstanding natural beauty in the heart of England that has a rich cultural history and landscapes littered with barrows, stone circles and sacred wells. This has provided us with an abundance of inspiration for our music over the years and with this release, we want to pay homage to the land that surrounds us.
“Our new album is a conceptual opus which follows the journey of a young Anglo-Saxon girl and her family who are oppressed for their pagan beliefs as the Christian regime started to take hold of England (a once heathen land) in the 7th century. The Wild Hunt marks a key event within this story where two cultures of contrasting beliefs and decorum fiercely clash in a prelude to a row of disastrous events. In northern European folklore, wilds hunts are seen as a folklore motif which involves a chase by a mythological figure escorted by a ghostly cohort engaged in pursuit. It is said that seeing the wild hunt was thought to presage a catastrophe like war or famine, or at best the death or capture of the one who witnessed it.”
The accompanying music video for “The Wild Hunt” was directed and filmed by Mark Wickson and Stefanie Holmes at the impressive St. Mary de Crypt church in Gloucester; a historical landmark within the band’s hometown. The building’s history spans for almost 2,000 years and has been a sanctuary for Christians, Anglo-Saxons and Romans alike during that time: during excavations in 2018, an altar fragment belonging to a former Roman temple dedicated to the god Jupiter was found.
“The Wild Hunt” is now available on Spotify, Bandcamp and all major streaming platforms.
