Cult of Luna

[PAAATE]

I can't seem to convince any of my friends that Cult of Luna makes the most beautiful music ever.

Anyone... Just agree with me.

[Mandi-chan]

I've never heard of them, but I admit you've captured my interest.

[PAAATE]

Check them out.

But be prepared... Whenever people hear them for the first time they never hear what they were expecting... Either they get very disappointed or very satisfied.

[Raph's Girl]

U can hear their songs here at their myspace site.

http://www.myspace.com/cultofluna

[PAAATE]

Swedish art-rock outfit CULT OF LUNA have officially set the title of their upcoming album as 'ETERNAL KINGDOM'.
CULT OF LUNA's fifth full-length album is being recorded at Tonteknik Studios in the band's hometown of Umeå. The follow-up to 2006's critically acclaimed SOMEWHERE ALONG THE HIGHWAY, ETERNAL KINGDOM is set to be a much heavier and darker affair than previous albums.

The artwork for ETERNAL KINGDOM can be viewed at http://earacherecords.com/myspace/Co...gdomCD_web.jpg

Guitarist ERIK OLOFSSON had the following to say: "It is with great ambition and struggle we have created a very heavy album. The sound is strong and progressive. Our compositions do not hold back on anything this time!"

Photos from the recording session can be found at http://www.cultofluna.com/content_media.html

ETERNAL KINGDOM will be released on June 16th in the UK/Europe and July
8th in the U.S.

http://earachenews.blogspot.com/2008...bum-title.html

I'm as happy as can be

Though.. "Our compositions do not hold back on anything this time!"... Did they ever hold back on something? In that case.. HOW THE HELL do they sound without holding anything back? O_o

[PAAATE]

I know, no one cares, but the story behind this new album is so intriguing.. At least to me..

Cult Of Luna founder and guitarist Johannes Persson explains the intriguing story behind the 'Eternal Kingdom' album concept.

"There’s a strange story behind the album and how we came up with the title. For the last couple of years we’ve been rehearsing in what is actually an old mental institution about 45 mins outside town. It was a mental institution in the 1920's, and when we cleaned out our rehearsal room we found all these boxes with junk in, that seemed like they had been forgotten for a long time.

Everything from medical journals to paintings by patients and things the patients had done. And we also found a journal entitled “Tales from the Eternal Kingdom”, complete with pictures and poems and words, that a patient named Holger Nilsson had written at the time"

Johannes continues: "Holger Nilsson, we since found out, was a guy that was sentenced for his wife’s murder and was incarcerated for life. The notebook shows that it was a really interesting world he was living in. We’re not claiming to be psychiatrists or anything like that, and able to make a good diagnosis of his mental state, but it’s clear to us that he was not living in our world. So basically the whole album 'Eternal Kingdom' takes us through his disturbed world from his perspective and mind, as recounted in the journal"

"The whole story started off by him blaming her death on this gypsy-like man that he met on the road home to his village, Yttre Åkulla." "It seems like he drowned his wife in the creek just outside of Yttre Åkulla. It was obviously a very tragic event. His wife was in labor having a baby, and he had to run to neighboring village Bygeda, to get a doctor. On the way to Bygeda, he met this gypsy character, and he asked him to look after his wife whilst he ran to the village for a doctor. He was only away a short time, but when he returned to her, the baby was stillborn and his wife was in really bad shape, upset about losing the child, and she died in the creek shortly afterwards. The gypsy had disappeared."

"Holger believes she was killed by the Necken. In Old Swedish folk tales there is a creature called the Necken who it is believed was Satan. The Necken plays on his fiddle and lures women to their doom, like the sirens in Greek mythology tricking sailors to their death."

"During the night he sees a bright light in the forest and he starts walking towards it. Sneaking through the bushes, all around the fire he sees these different animals and animal-hybrids – Kumans (half-man, half-bear). It later turns out that these are the 'evil' animals. They are dancing around faster and faster and faster, and in the middle of the ring he sees the gypsy - as they make eye contact, the gypsy transforms into an
owl/man hybrid - this Owlman is known as Ugin, the Owl King. The Owl starts to scream, which causes the animals to give chase to Holger, so he runs away back to his house."

"The next morning there’s a knock at the door, and he’s very nervous but it’s one of the “good” animals. He gets taken to the good animals that are led by the Capercally. They have some secret information. The Capercally King tells him about this wood, this forest and the schism between the good and evil animals, and the Owl King Ugin that governs this whole evil land. The good animals had some information from a spy that will give them an advantage against the evil creatures. The good animals are not
fighting creatures, but they get this information that they have a good chance to attack Ugin. So they all go and fight, but the information is false and they're surrounded and captured, so the story ends up that Holger gets sent to a dungeon in a mountain. Our interpretation is that this dungeon he’s sent to is his view of his incarceration."

Johannes handed in the journal which became civic property, and is expected to be displayed in the Österbotten museum at some point. Johannes reflects on the impact the find made on him: "When as a band, you unexpectedly find something like this it’s not a question of IF you’re going to do something about it. It’s an epiphany, it had to be the album concept, though it was very challenging to make the album's music
re-tell the story in the journal– not just lyrics, but also the music to match such an intriguing idea and concept."

'Eternal Kingdom' will be released on June 16th in Europe and July 8th in the U.S.

[Arcade Joe]

I like Cult of Luna a lot, but I think Neurosis and Isis are better. But then again, it's all Godflesh to me....

[PAAATE]

Originally Posted by Arcade Joe

I like Cult of Luna a lot, but I think Neurosis and Isis are better. But then again, it's all Godflesh to me....

Neurosis and Isis.. I like 'em both, but the reason Cult of Luna owns them is because of the emotions in Klas' voice. He sounds like he could kill himself any second and I like that

That came out kinda morbid, but meh..