Negură Bunget have released a video for "Brad" ("fir tree") as the first single taken from the Romanian black metal pioneers' final album and conclusion of their Transylvanian trilogy, which is entitled Zău ("Old God"). Zău is slated for release on November 26. The "Brad" video can be found below.

Zău is the legacy of drummer and mastermind "Gabriel "Negru" Mafa, who tragically passed far too early at the age of 42 years on March 21, 2017. This album has been completed and respectfully created upon Negru's original drum-track recordings by the last lineup of Negură Bunget.

"After the tragic passing of Gabriel 'Negru' Mafa we all felt compelled to fulfil his legacy according to his ideas and wishes, which meant that we had to complete the Transylvanian trilogy", writes the band collectively. "Working on this album, we all felt Gabriel's guiding presence among us. We all knew the details directly from him, because as the very organised person that Gabriel was, he had written everything down. The drums that you hear on Zău are played by Gabriel as he had already recorded the pilot for the album before his passing. The rest of us just contributed with our parts as usual, although it was a difficult time and process for all of us. We missed the musical and philosophical debates with Gabriel. In the end, we succeeded to complete his work. The title of the third part of the Transylvanian Trilogy Zău means 'Old God' in Romanian but it also designates a wonder. This album focuses on Transylvanian landscapes, mythology, and spirituality. 'Brad', which translates as 'fir tree' represents the most cinematic track of this album. The symbolism of the fir tree in Romanian traditional culture is vast and complex. For example, it can represent immortality and the circle of life as it accompanies all the important stages: birth, marriage, and death. Our friend, the artist Daniel Dorobantu created the stunning video for this song."

Martin Koller adds: "In many ways, Zău is unlike most other albums", writes the label's founder. "We felt it important that this record would be released in the 25th anniversary year of Prophecy Productions as it somehow felt that this would add to the special tribute we intended it to be to the late Gabriel 'Negru' Mafa. He spoke so many times about the Transylvanian trilogy and how much it meant to him that we knew, we had to get it right. It was so very important to Gabriel, it had become very important to us, his label family. We want to honour all those years of friendship and fruitful collaboration with this posthumous release. We are therefore beyond grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the band to be able to finish what they had started with Gabriel: A stunning testimony of the innovative power and musical creativity of Negură Bunget. We also want to express our deep gratitude towards everybody else, not at least Gabriel's wife Alina, who helped in the making of this amazing record and its artwork. We are glad that we will make it happen before this year is over and we sincerely hope, you will come to love Zău as much as we do."

Zău will be available as a hardcover 36-page CD/DVD artbook, gatefold white vinyl LP, gatefold black vinyl LP, and on Digipak CD. Pre-order here.

Tracklisting:

"Brad"
"Iarba Fiarelor"
"Obrăzar"
"Tinerețe Fără Bătrânețe"
"Toacă Din Cer"

"Brad" video:

Lineup:

Gabriel "Negru" Mafa - drums, percussion
Tibor Kati - vocals
Adrian "OQ" Neagoe - guitars, keyboards
Petrică Ionuţescu - kaval (flute), nai (pan flute), tulnic (alphorn), duduk

Guest musicians:

Manuela Marchiș - vocals on "Brad"