Negură Bunget have checked in with the following update:
 
"As another year in the history of the band, the 20th, comes to an end, we take a look back, but also a look ahead to what we have coming in 2017. 2016 was a busy year for Negura Bunget, but 2107 announces to be even more intense.

The triple anniversary (20 years Negura Bunget / 10 years OM / new album ZI) took us on a roller-coaster of special moments, releases, performances in 2016. In September, we released the new album ZI – the second part of the Transilvanian trilogy. To complete the musical experience of the album we developed a complex visual dimension as well, which included the ZI – movie concept, our highest visual achievement yet. Hand in hand with the release of the new album we performed an extended Anniversary European Tour, with 49 gigs across the continent, of which 38 gigs were in a row (a premiere even for us).

Around the release of the new album we also developed a crowdfunding campaign meant to help us expand the promotion of our music on a proper world tour. Thanks to your generosity the campaign was a success, and our plans have now good chances to be fulfilled. We have been working on those for years and we are now close of unveiling the first details. We'll start the new year with some writing sessions for the new album we have been already working on after completing ZI. Then in spring we'll embark on a tour focused on Northern Europe, on places we couldn't make it to on the 2016 European Tour.

In April/May we're returning to North America extending further our Anniversary tour. Beside USA and Canada, we hope to visit and perform in Mexico as well this time, circling the entire continent. In the summer of 2017 we plan to finalize our must ambitious project ever, The Transilvanian Trilogy with something truly special. Finally, the last part of the year we'll dedicate to completing our Anniversary World Tour, hoping to visit some faraway places we haven't reached before: Asia and Australia.

Again, none of the things we achieved or plan to achieve would be possible without you, the people that helped and supported us over the years. We are forever grateful to you all for making our amazing journey possible!

We'll announce the details for our plans gradually, starting in the first days of the new year, so please tune in. May 2017 bring you the inspiration and the force to channel into action."

Negură Bunget recently released a product presentation video for the artbook edition of their new album, ZI, released on September 30th, 2016.

ZI (English for 'Day' or 'Say') is the second part of the group's ambitious Transilvanian Trilogy, released on the heels of 2015's celebrated album, TAU (English for 'Your' or 'Thy'), a record accurately hailed as "earthshaking" as it focused on unique native, natural landscapes and the mystique, legends, lore and meanings behind them.

The band recently released a stunning, ten minute long "album film", titled simply, ZI. The artistic short, beautifully shot in the Transylvanian forests, blends excerpts from each of the album’s six tracks. View ZI now, below:

In creating its most luminescent recording to date, Negură Bunget has further immersed itself in the traditions and practices of local Transilvanian inhabitants, exploring their connection with nature, and the way this relationship has shaped spiritual horizons. Within this framework, ZI closely examines the core of the most important traditions and rituals connected with the well-being of this community. Life events such as funeral ceremonies, soil tillage, and human growth and evolution (i.e. youth to teen to man to warrior, through to outcast) are spotlighted, in what is undoubtedly some of the most heady, thinking-man's metal produced in recent memory.

Musically, ZI builds upon the hallmarks of Negură Bunget's impressive catalog; the juxtaposition and interweaving of grim black metal elements, ambient soundscapes and acoustic counterparts based on native Romanian folk music, giving life to panoramic atmospheres, intensity and power unequaled in the band's rich discography.

An impressive musical statement and crucial bridge between root-bearing beginning and impending finale of the trilogy (scheduled to be released in early 2018), ZI is a mystical, tension-building recording that mirrors the size and scope of the deep forest fog for which the band is named.

The album was recorded at Negura MUSIC studio January-June 2016. Produced and mixed by Negură Bunget and Mihai ‘Mtz' Neagoe. Mastering by Alin Luculescu. Cover design by Daniel Dorobanțu. Outfit design by Anita Ramona.

Tracklisting:

“Tul-ni-că-rînd” (Horn-ing)
“Grădina stelelor” (Garden of Stars)
“Brazdă dă foc” (Furrow of Fire)
“Baciul Moșneag” (The Old Shepherd)
“Stanciu Gruiul” (Stanciu Gruiul)
“Marea Cea Mare” (The Vast Sea)

Bonus CD (only artbook)

“Tul-ni-că-rînd” (remixed version by Daniel Dorobanțu)
“Brazdă dă foc” (remixed version by Silent Strike)
“Schimnicește” (remixed version by Tibor Kati & Ionuț Cârja)
“Baciu moșneag” (remixed version by Adrian “Oq” Neagoe & Tragacanth)

Bonus DVD (only artbook)

ZI - album short film
“Tul-ni-că-rînd” - visual
“Stanciu Gruiul” - visual

"Stanciu Gruilu" video:

“Tul-ni-ca-rind” video: