Sweden's Portrait returns with their sixth album, The Host, their first ever concept album, set for release on June 21 via Metal Blade Records.  In advance of its official unveiling, today the band reveals the latest single, "Die In My Heart".

Founding guitarist Christian Lindell describes the new offering as "an occult tale of sword and sorcery, accompanied by some of the most passionate heavy metal ever recorded. The story takes place in seventeenth century Sweden and revolves around an unnamed protagonist who, because of his experiences with the injustice and hypocrisy of this world, decides to seek truth and strength through its 'Adversary.'"

On the musical side, Portrait's co-founding drummer Anders Persson adds that the album "is a versatile entity, showing all sides of what has become our own style of heavy metal, identity, and sense of melody, yet with some new areas explored in several directions. There are songs that are our fastest and most 'extreme' so far along with songs of an almost semi ballad feeling. It blends perfectly together musically and fits the dramaturgy of the story."

The story of The Host takes place in the Swedish Empire during the Era Of Great Power, an era of constant war. The church played a central role in Swedish society in those days and the task of choosing the men that would be sent out to war was given to the priests. All men above the age of fifteen were summoned to the church hill once a year, where the priest then decided who would be the "lucky" ones (the rule of guidance being that every tenth man was to be picked).

It was preached that the reason for war was all sins committed by common man, and to be part of the army during those times was to be considered something sacred. Biblical passages were often quoted as references in order to legitimize the conquering of enemy territory, and in order to establish a "fear of god" within the army, religious services were held in the military camps twice a day and anyone not attending would be punished.

But there are also court documents from this era showing that some soldiers stood accused of having made pacts with the Devil with the intent of receiving strength and protection in war, as well as luck and prosperity, in exchange for one's own blood and other offerings. A central part of this process was the sacrament of the Eucharist. Once consecrated by the priest, the bread of communion becomes the Host or body of Jesus Christ, elevated to something beyond its mere forms and imbued with magical powers.

There were different methods to employ the Host for sorcerous ends. One of the most common ways was to simply conduct one's magical rites after having partaken of the sacrament in church, as it was believed that one's own magical abilities were at their strongest by then. Another approach was to steal it from church and give it as an offering to the Devil or other spirits summoned for the work at hand.

The Host serves as Portrait's first album to feature guitarist Karl Gustafsson as part of the band's lineup and was recorded in JFK Studio in Sweden. Mixing and production tasks were handled by singer Per Lengstedt at his own Perilous Productions Studio while mastering was handled by Bart Gabriel.

The record will be released on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants:

- Multicolored Splatter - Ltd. 200
- White Black Marbled - Ltd. 300
- 180-gram Black
- Burgundy Red Marbled

Pre-order here.

The Host tracklisting:

"Hoc Est Corpus Meum" (Intro)
"The Blood Covenant"
"The Sacrament"
"Oneiric Visions"
"One Last Kiss"
"Treachery"
"Sound The Horn"
"Dweller Of The Threshold"
"Die In My Heart"
"Voice Of The Outsider"
"From The Urn"
"The Men Of Renown"
"Sword Of Reason (The Steel Of Revenge)"
"The Passions Of Sophia"

"Die In My Heart":

"The Blood Covenant" video:

Portrait live:

June
29 - Pitcher - Düsseldorf, Germany
30 - Bambi Galore - Hamburg, Germany

July
7 - Time To Rock Festival - Knislinge, Sweden
31 - Wacken Open Air - Wacken, Germany

September
27 - L' Homme Sauvage Festival - Auzas, France

Portrait lineup:

Per Lengstedt - vocals
Christian Lindell - guitars
Karl Gustafsson - guitars
Fredrik Petersson - bass
Anders Persson - drums

(Photo - Stefan Johansson)