Just one and a half years after their much acclaimed self titled debut album, Danish progressive doomers ALKYMIST set out once more on a trip that takes you far beyond this world and into their strange and crushingly heavy realm of brutal, yet beautiful and grandiose soundscapes. The recent announcement of the band’s sophomore album, ‘Sanctuary’, set for a May 1st 2020 release on Indisciplinarian was followed up with the first single ‘Draugr’. Now, the quartet unleashes yet another song in the shape of the mesmerizing ‘The Dead’ which was released April 3rd, stream it below.

On ‘Sanctuary’, ALKYMIST offers the listener an immersive, spiritual and transcendent journey. The record revolves around metaphysical questioning, soul searching, mental and cerebral escape and ultimately the quest to achieve redemption of spirit and flesh. Lead singer Peter Bjørneg states about ‘The Dead’:

“The Dead’… is a song inspired by two verses from Hávamál, the old norse codex of conduct. Good advice as how to behave yourself and reconcile in life in order to move peacefully into the afterlife.”

76.                                                       77.

Livestock die, kindred die                    Livestock die, kindred die 

Every man is mortal                            Every man is mortal

But the good name never dies            But I know one thing that never dies

Of one who has done well                  The glory of a great dead

ALKYMIST was to play this year’s SPOT Festival in Aarhus Denmark, but the show has been cancelled due to the current pandemic, and the band’s release shows in April and May are also endangered, without having been cancelled just yet. Luckily the band is planning a string of Danish, Norwegian and German fall dates to be announced in the coming months.

‘Sanctuary’ will be released May 1st 2020 on Vinyl, Tape and digital formats. The Vinyl edition comes in 400 black and 100 crystal clear copies and the tape edition is limited to 100 copies. All physical versions of the album are now available to pre-order HERE, the first single ‘Draugr’ is available HERE and from Friday April 3rd, ‘The Dead’ is also available AT THIS LOCATION!

‘Sanctuary’ Tracklisting:
1. Oethon
2. The Dead
3. S.O.Y.
4. Draugr
5. Gust Of War
6. Desolated Sky
7. Astral Haze
8. Warkeeper