With nine studio albums in sixteen years, six-piece Swedish power metal band Bloodbound follow 2021’s Creatures Of The Dark Realm with news of a forthcoming new album, the epic Tales From The North, due on 7th July and the title track out now as a new single.
“This song is about the foundation of norse mythology and cosmology. It describes the nine worlds of Asgard and how the god Heimdall, who was the keeper and protector of Bifrost (the rainbow bridge) could see everything. He carried all the stories and tales from the north. Musically the inspiration goes back to the old Helloween era,” explained lead guitarist Tomas Olsson.
You can check out the video for it here at RAMzine.
“Tales From The North is very much a concept album about the Viking era. About the lives of our ancestors up here in the dark, cold and unfriendly environments of the north,” explained Olsson and summarised the content of their eleven songs as: “Different legends and myths intertwine during the course of the songs, leading up to the epic battle of 1066, which marks the end of the Viking era.”
Tales From The North was produced by Bloodbound, and was mixed and mastered by Jonas Kjellgren (Amorphis, Overkill, Sabaton) at Black Lounge Studios, in Sweden. The cover artwork was done by Péter Sallai (Hammerfall, Powerwolf etc) and features the tracks: ‘Tales From The North’, ‘Drink With The Gods’, ‘Odin´s Prayer’, ‘The Raven´s Cry’, ‘Mimir`s Crystal Eye’, ‘Between The Enemy Lines’, ‘Land Of Heroes’, ‘Sail Among The Dead’, ‘Stake My Claims’, ‘Sword And Axe’ and ‘1066’.
The album will be released on 7th July, via AFM/Soulfood as a 2-CD digipak including a live CD. As a special treat, it will also be released as a strictly limited box set as well as coloured vinyl LPs.
Olsson also noted: “The songs are more fast-paced and closer to some of our earlier stuff like ’Moria’ and ’Nosferatu’, but have more complex arrangements. Compared to the predecessor Creatures Of The Dark Realm there are heavier guitars and some deeper sounding keyboards. We have also incorporated some traditional Nordic folk music instruments to fit the concept of the album. It`s still pure power metal but we’re trying to take it to the next level.”
You can also check out the videos for previous recent singles here at RAMzine.
“’Odin’s Prayer’ is a real banger of a song,” said keyboard player Fredrik Bergh of the band’s first single release from the record.
“It represents the new album well and I think it’s a great first taste of the new record. On Tales From The North we have gone back to the roots of Bloodbound a bit and I think the bloodheads will like what they hear!“
You can also check out the video for ‘Odin’s Prayer‘ here at RAMzine, and pre-order Tales From The North here.
