Haimad - “When Night Rode Across the North”

Back in 1994, when Black Metal was relatively young, underground and deadly serious, a group of young men gathered in Sundsvall, Sweden to form a coven of occult worship in order to spread the dark arts.

Their quest to enlighten and convert started with the release of ”A Dream Vision Vanished” in 1995 and progressed to the birth of the Arte de Occulta EP release ”The Horned Moon” in 1996.

At the height of the 90s wave of Melodic Black Metal the group then participated with the song ”Under Spread Wings of Eternal Darkness” on the classic Full Moon Productions sampler ”A Tribute to Hell”.

Encountering hardships of death and despair on their dark and spiraling path, the band was forced to take a break until 1999, when lead guitarist Azradan again picked up the torch and the remaining members of Haimad opened another chapter with the ”Majestic” EP.

After that release the band went on a long hiatus. Many years went by without a sign of life before Azradan, now the only remaining founding member, set out to resurrect the band once more and recruited a new line-up in order to turn his powerful vision of Symphonic Black Metal in the best tradition of the Scandinavian mid-90s into reality. And who else but musicians who were part of that same scene back then would be able to create something that reminds so powerfully of the good old days? Thus Haimad returned, and stronger than ever!

25 years after their founding, Haimad released an EP that was a dream come true for any fan of albums like "The Sad Realm of the Stars", "Seen Through the Veils of Darkness", "Provenance of Cruelty", "In the Nightside Eclipse", "Stormblåst", "In Times Before the Light", "Moon in the Scorpio" or "Tusen År Har Gått".

If one has grown up with these milestones, listening to Haimad's "The Return" was like coming home after a long time away, because the material on this EP is absolutely on par with the classics, and it sounds like it was composed over 20 years ago.

In the same vein, Haimad’s long overdue debut album finally arises like a beacon in the northern night, more than 30 years after the band’s founding, and continues the tradition of mid-90s style, melodic, symphonic Scandinavian Black Metal albums that saw a sort of renaissance in the recent past, most noteworthy with some bands from the Finnish scene.

Haimad show that Sweden, too, can still produce albums of the caliber of the 90s classics, and unleashes a majestic coalescence of classic symphony and Black Metal inferno steeped in Tolkien-lore.

Needless to add that their incredible EP “The Return”, previously only available on CD and digital, will also finally be released on vinyl for the first time alongside the new album.

Tracklist — When Night Rode Across the North:

When Night Rode Across the North

Nen Cenedril

Where Serpents Wait in Withering Ruins

Naur

Voice of the Dread Abomination

Of Smokeless Fire and Smouldering Ash

The Key to the First and Final Day