Usually, we have to wait three years between releases for Insomnium, but not this time! The Finnish melodic death metal band has announced that it'll be releasing a new album titled Winter's Gate on September 23 via Century Media Records.
The record is being mixed by the legendary Dan Swanö (ex-Edge of Sanity, Witherscape, etc.), but that's not even the most interesting part of this. In fact, there are two insane aspects to this release:
- It's a book and an album, so you can follow along with the concept.
- In keeping with bands like Gorguts and Textures, the whole thing is one 40-minute long song.
Here's what the band had to say!
We proudly present: Winter’s Gate – album and a book
We have been forging a very special release during the last months. Winter’s Gate is a concept album that is made of one epic 40 minute song. The album is built around a short story Winter’s Gate (Talven portti in Finnish) by Niilo Sevänen, which won awards and nominations in Finland back in 2007 and 2008. It’s a story about a group of Vikings who set out to find a fabled island west from Ireland, even though the winter is drawing near. The full story is released together with the album as a book that has the tale in English, Finnish and German – illustrated by the artist Teemu Tähkänen.
Album is currently being mixed by Dan Swanö at Unisound AB studio in Sweden. A worldwide release through Century Media Records will be out September 23rd 2016. Tour dates for autumn and winter will be announced soon.
Needless to say, we are really excited at this point! Album is still in the mix but it’s going to sound awesome and it will be something we’ve never done before. Rest assured that it will still sound like Insomnium – we have just taken epicness to new level. The book is also going to look really cool and both translations are very good, capturing the original mood and spirit of the story. So it’s really one-of-a-kind package coming your way!
So y'know, holy shit. This image has been the band's Facebook header since March too, so maybe it's the cover to either the album or the book?
