At the end of last year, Anneke van Giersbergen announced the release of her new solo album, The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest, one of the most important and personal albums in Anneke’s career to date. An album inspired by heartbreak - not something Anneke ever anticipated writing. It will be released on February 26th .Following is an excerpt from the upcoming BraveWords feature.

Anneke: "It might be a softer acoustic album, but that doesn't mean it's not intense. The dark moods are there, I come from metal, I like the dark atmospheres in music, so even if the music isn't played heavy the intensity is still there. Metal fans in general are very open-minded anyway; they listen to Fleetwood Mac and Dolly Parton and all kinds of different artists. Metal and prog people are also very serious about music, which is what I find when people hear the album and tell me it doesn't matter what it sounds like as long as it touches something inside you."

The third single from The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest, “Agape”, was recently released. Anneke comments: “Agape refers to the highest form of unconditional love, the type of love we all yearn for. I’ve tried to create a distinct echo of a love song from the ‘70s with a meditative guitar arrangement. The lush sound of a string quartet adds a dreamy quality to the song.”

Watch the lyric video for “Agape”:

The Darkest Skies Are The Brightest is available for pre-order. The album will be available as eco-friendly CD Digipak (plastic-free), as 180g Gatefold LP (incl. the album on CD) & as digital album. Click here to pre-order.

Tracklisting:

"Agape"
"Hurricane"
"My Promise"
"I Saw A Car"
"The Soul Knows"
"The End"
"Keep It Simple"
"Lo And Behold"
"Losing You"
"Survive"
"Love You Like I Love You"

“Hurricane” video:

“My Promise” video: