CULT OF LUNA Announces 'In The Shadow Of Your Shadow' Album

Swedish post-metal visionaries CULT OF LUNA will release their tenth studio album, "In The Shadow Of Your Shadow", on November 6 via RED CRK. Ahead of the news, the band shared the album's towering title track and accompanying video, and have also confirmed upcoming live appearances at ArcTanGent and Damnation festivals.

For 25 years, CULT OF LUNA have remained one of the most uncompromising and forward-thinking forces in heavy music. Emerging from Umeå, Sweden, the band have continually expanded the possibilities of post-metal across an ever-evolving catalogue. Refusing stagnation at every turn, they return now with "In The Shadow Of Your Shadow", a 71-minute monolith that stands among the darkest and most emotionally devastating works of their career, featuring guest appearances from GOJIRA's Joe Duplantier and David Eugene Edwards.

The album's first single and title track was shared online just ahead of the album's announcement. Written around the idea of buried trauma resurfacing after years of silence, it explores the return of a destructive force once believed defeated.

"'In The Shadow Of Your Shadow' is written through the eyes of the traitor within. A battle once fought and believed to be won," explains CULT OF LUNA frontman and guitarist Johannes Persson. "A conviction that this venomous part of yourself had been buried so deep it could never return. But it was always there, hidden in the cracks of the persona. Silent. Patient. Waiting for the right moment to emerge once again."

There's no limit to CULT OF LUNA's creative vision. Inspired by artists from hardcore, sludge metal, folk, art-rock and beyond, the Swedish luminaries are revered as one of the heaviest and most restless bands in alternative music. Their new, tenth studio album, "In The Shadow Of Your Shadow", is another bold leap into the black: possibly the darkest release to bear their name, yet full of ideas that show they're still peerless 25 years since debuting.

Hailing from Umeå — home to fellow, legendary innovators MESHUGGAH and REFUSED — CULT OF LUNA built an ardent fanbase with their self-titled album (2001) and "The Beyond" (2003),before "Salvation" (2004) catapulted them to global acclaim. The raw, dusty but vast "Somewhere Along The Highway" (2006) won Sweden's prestigious the "P3 Guld" award from radio station P3 for "Best Rock/Metal Album Of The Year", inspiring the members to fully embrace their metal side for 2008's crushing "Eternal Kingdom".

Each subsequent project added new shades to their sound. "Vertikal" (2013) took influence from industrial cityscapes, whereas Julie Christmas team-up "Mariner" (2016) was a space-metal rocket ride which got nominated for a Swedish Grammis award. "A Dawn To Fear" (2019) was their longest standalone album to date, and "The Long Road North" (2022) featured contributions from musician/actor Mariam Wallentin and "Hereditary" composer Colin Stetson.

The band have also collaborated with such beloved musicians as GODFLESH's Justin Broadrick (who remixed "Vicarious Redemption" for 2013's "Vertikal II" EP) and SCREAMING TREES' Mark Lanegan (guest vocalist on "Inside Of A Dream" from 2021's "The Raging River" EP),as well as curating their own, genre-busting festival Beyond The Redshift.

"Stagnation is the only thing that scares me," states singer/guitarist/co-founder Johannes Persson. "I've said this in every interview I've done for the past 25 years: I don't care whether or not people think we're repeating ourselves. As long as we feel like we aren't, we will continue to do this."

A more-than-worthy addition to their dynamic canon, "In The Shadow Of Your Shadow" is a 71-minute monolith: a stark rejection of trends, convention and pandering to one's audience. Lyrically, it channels recent experiences of loss into a bleak set of songs. The title track and lead single is about feelings thought to be long buried, returning after something painful occurs. It takes the perspective of this anguish and characterizes it as a parasite: "His body is weak, the cracks will fit me. A disfigured form, I will complete it."

"We all have our history, we all have our baggage," Persson explains. "Everything that you've gone through leads you to where you are right now. It's a boring cliché, but it's true. There were certain things that I thought I'd left behind, and certain events during the last couple of years have brought them back. When you put the lid on things for decades, it's interesting to see how they come back. This parasite is back again."

The record features guest appearances from Joe Duplantier, frontman of Grammy-winning extreme metal titans GOJIRA, and David Eugene Edwards of 16 HORSEPOWER and WOVENHAND.

"What I like about Joe is that he has a very particular voice," says Persson. "I think it's one of the reasons why GOJIRA stand out as the metal giants that they are. It has its own unique character and would stand out even if you put him next to a hundred or a thousand other vocalists."

"David has been a huge influence for years," says Persson. "I've been a huge fan of 16 HORSEPOWER, his solo projects and WOVENHAND for decades. His voice fits perfectly on the song and it carries the subject matter with conviction."

Co-produced together with Daniel Berglund and mixed by Magnus Lindberg, "In The Shadow Of Your Shadow" is another evolutionary effort from a band who refuse to stand still. It's devastating and diverse, and it cements their place as trailblazers.

"In The Shadow Of Your Shadow" track listing:

01. In The Shadow Of Your Shadow
02. Sadness Will Reign (feat. Joe Duplantier)
03. Landby
04. Breach
05. The Rift
06. A Way Back
07. One More Day (feat. David Eugene Edwards)
08. From Grey To Black
09. Burial

Photo credit: Chad Michael Ward