Cult Of Luna have released a short film for "A Dawn To Fear", the title track of their new album, and the band's first material under their sole name since 2013's Vertikal 1&2. Order the new record at MetalBlade.com.

The narrative for the 'A Dawn To Fear' short film was written as a continuous story spread out over two songs ('Lay Your Head to Rest' and 'The Silent Man'). Because of the hard work that was put in by numerous people it deserves to be viewed in it’s intended form. That is why I’m excited that it’s finally available as the 18 min. piece it was written as." - Johannes Persson

Building on 20 years of creating some of the most epic, emotive and inventive heavy music unleashed on the world, there is no denying that Cult Of Luna's A Dawn To Fear is a monster of a record. An album comprised of eight tracks running 79 minutes, it embodies everything the band's faithful have come to expect from them while covering new ground. "Going into the process, we knew the album we wanted to make, an antithesis of what we've done before," says vocalist/guitarist and lead songwriter Johannes Persson. "For pretty much every album there's been a very concrete theme. We've known from the start the kind of story we wanted to tell, and I didn't want that to be the case. I've seen a lot of subtle changes and patterns in my own behavior and my own thinking the last couple of years, and I wanted this to be a completely spontaneous process. I just wanted to see what came out of me, and A Dawn To Fear is the result of that."

Admitting he is perhaps still too close to the record to objectively describe the sound of A Dawn To Fear, Persson believes that it has a more organic feel to it, largely achieved through the use of organs and other acoustic instruments in place of electronic keyboards, and that it is perhaps a more melancholic collection. It is also arguably heavier than their last full-length, 2013's Vertikal and their 2016 collaboration with Julie Christmas, Mariner, both in terms of the sheer density of the music and its tone. When it came to tracking the album, the band opted to work at Ocean Sound Recordings in Norway, which, as the name suggests, is located right by the coast, far from the nearest town. For eleven days the band lived at the studio, and enjoyed the process of constructing the record. With the finished product running to the length of a double CD, there was some discussion of cutting a track, but this did not get far. "We sat down and looked at that song list and we couldn't. It would make it easier for us and everyone involved to cut one song, making it no problem when it comes to LPs and CDs, but we just couldn't see the album any other way. These songs are the songs that make sense. If we cut this song or that song, it would screw up the whole dynamic of the record."

Tracklisting:

“The Silent Man”
“Lay Your Head To Rest”
“A Dawn To Fear”
“Nightwalkers”
“Lights On The Hill”
“We Feel The End”
“Inland Rain”
“The Fall”

Album stream:

Cult Of Luna have announced their return to the US and Canada, with a North American headlining tour set for February/March 2020. Emma Ruth Rundle and Intronaut will join this bill as support. See below for all dates.

February
25 - Dallas, TX - Trees
26 - Austin, TX - Come and Take It Live
28 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
29 - Baltimore, MD - Soundstage

March
1 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
2 - Montreal, QC - Corona
3 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
4 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
5 - Lawrence, KS - Granada Theater
6 - Denver, CO - Summit Music Hall
7 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge
9 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's
10 - Los Angeles, CA - Fonda Theatre *
11 - San Diego, CA - Brick By Brick
13 - Mexico City, MX - Auditorio Blackberry**

* - no Intronaut
** - Cult of Luna only

(Photo - Silvia Grav)