Finnish Sludge/Death Masters BLACK ROYAL Release “Ghosts of the Dead”

Finnish metal quartet BLACK ROYAL - whose blend of lurching sludge and groove-laden death metal is inflected with lyrics inspired by Scandinavian and Sami mythology - release the third video for new single "Ghosts of the Dead," taken from the group's forthcoming full-length album, 'Earthbound,' out October 21, 2022.

Says vocalist Riku of "Ghosts of the Dead"; "If one wanted to become a sorcerer, the first step was to establish a natural relationship with the dead people. For example, the hands of morticians were believed to have healing power. Only a strong-blooded person can withstand the actions of the dead, but a weak-blooded person cannot. Cadaverous deceased formed a welcoming party when the time of death was approaching. They set forth from the cemetery and gathered around the duing or the place of death. This crowd consists of already deceased souls who had lost their individuality and who were dropped from the reincarnation cycle. A wood spirit tradition in western Finland was influenced by the Scandinavian 'skogiungfru"-tradition."

Furthers guitarist Toni: "Musically, this started out with my and Pete's [bass] idea to get more of an up-tempo rocker for the album but with a twist into something more melodic in the chorus. We wanted to mix Motorhead with Mastodon or something like that. I believe there was hefty amount of beer involved but the whole song brewed together nicely... pardon the pun. We had different riffs and sections of the song kinda planned but the song didn't really take shape until it was arranged by the whole band with a help of Jukka's powerful drumming tying it together. The final touches were given by studio wizard/keyboardist guru Juss Kulomaa (who also mixed our two previous albums). This time he added some beautiful keyboards to the middle section which were the finishing touches on the song."