Today, doom-death titans
Druid Lord premiere the new track
"Relics of the Dead" at heavily trafficked web-portal
NoCleanSinging.com . The track is
the second to be revealed from the band's highly anticipated third album,
Relics of the Dead , set for international release on January 21st, 2022 via
Hells Headbangers on CD and cassette tape formats; the vinyl LP version will follow later next year. Hear
Druid Lord 's title track "Relics of the Dead" in its entirety exclusively
HERE .
For years,
Druid Lord were one of the metal underground's best-kept secrets. It wasn't until the band signed with
Hells Headbangers for the release of their second album,
Grotesque Offerings , when
Druid Lord finally started receiving their due. Massively acclaimed,
Grotesque Offerings displayed
Druid Lord in all their doom-death glory: eerie, utterly crushing, and simply MOLTEN beyond measure. This was the sound of supernatural horror writ large, painted with bold strokes and even bolder heaviness.
And while eight years separated their two full-lengths to date, thankfully,
Druid Lord return in comparatively quicker time with
Relics of the Dead . Wisely sticking to the same formula as its celebrated predecessor - lurching-tank riffs, lurking-dread atmosphere, completely skull-crushing production - here do
Druid Lord render their third album a more concise counterpart that, somehow, also finds them at their doomiest. The leads still linger like funeral fog, the sense of space even wider (and eerier) than before, and the slo-mo riffs surprisingly catchy, but the eight-song/46-minute runtime makes the cinematic effect feel more compact. Of course, it's
Druid Lord and there's no compromise in their titanic doom-death, but the spellbinding acoustic interlude "Nightside Conjuring" chills to the fucking bone while the outro "Ethereal Decay" is likewise aptly titled - small, thoroughly thought-through developments from a band continually at the height of their powers.
If
Grotesque Offerings was a mini-classic in the making, harkening the arrival of the new doom-death lords, then
Relics of the Dead is
Druid Lord 's grand coronation!
Witness the next sounds of that coronation with the brand-new title track "Relics of the Dead" exclusively
HERE , courtesy of NoCleanSinging.com. Witness the first sounds of that coronation with the previously revealed tracks "Festering Tombs"
HERE and "Thirteen Days of Death"
HERE , both at
Hells Headbangers '
official YouTube channel. Preorder info can be found
HERE . Cover and tracklisting are as follows: