Einar Thorberg, founder and frontman of Norwegian extreme pagan metallers FORTID has issued an update on the progress of the band’s fifth full-length album. “The drums have been finalised, and we’re well into the pre-production stage and happy with the way things are progressing. With this album I didn’t want to make a repeat of 2012’s Pagan Prophecies or any of our other albums come to that, so there will be more diversity in tempo, and maybe even an occasional flirtation with pop/rock, but not enough to upset our fans. The lyrical concept of the album deals with the quest for knowledge and a deeper understanding of oneself and the universe through Nordic tradition and the story of Odin. The lyrics will be in Icelandic, which is my mother tongue and allows me to express myself more personally and deeply than I could in any other language."

More information about Fortid can be found on the band’s Facebook page here.

As well as Fortid, Thorberg has a number of other projects he is involved in, one of them being MIDNATTSVREDE which has largely remained dormant since 1994, but is now active again, and set to release a split album with another of his projects, CURSE. Midnattsvrede’s contribution will be 4 tracks, one of which will be a cover of VED BUENS ENDE’s 'Carrier Of Wounds' a song that Thorberg is particularly excited about, having laid the groundwork for it back in 2007. As he explains: “Finally the piece is going to come to light, and we’ll be interpreting it in a whole different way. The track blends perfectly with Midnattsvrede’s own material and if you know VBE you’ll get some kind of idea of what to expect - but only partly!”

Curse’s contribution will be one very long song which is divided into four separate tracks dealing with a blend of philosophy and science. It won’t be in the Black ‘n Roll style of Curse’s last album, but will hark back to the more atmospheric style that the band used on the split with SYKDOM. More information about Curse can be found at here.

In July Thorberg will hit the stage at the Eistnaflug Music Festival in Reykjavík , Iceland, with POTENTIAM, the band that he fondly refers to as “the slowest working band there is”. Despite this, after 16 years Potentiam is still going strong, with drums and half the guitars already recorded on what will be the band’s fourth full-length album which will feature eight tracks in the gloom-laden style for which Potentiam is known. More information about Potentiam can be found here

If Fortid and three other projects were not enough, Thorberg has also finished recording an album with Gudmundur Óli Pálmason from SÓLSTAFIR for UNKOWN CIRCLE, a band he calls his new “experimental pet project."

No decision has yet been taken as to how to proceed with Unknown Circle, but the album is ready and waiting. More information about Unknown Circle can be found here

Live footage of the Fortid playing the track 'Ragnarök Army from the East”' from the album Völuspá Part III Fall of the Ages”can be seen below:

Six tracks from Fortid can be heard on the band’s SoundCloud page at http://soundcloud.com/fortid/sets/fortid or embedded using the following code:

FORTID by Fortid