SAMAEL Releases New Single 'Hail To The Sun'

Swiss icons SAMAEL, one of the most enduring and influential bands in the industrial/black metal scene, have released a new single. "Hail To The Sun" is an equally heavy and grand track dealing with life's hardships and taking chances instead. The rousing song full of stomping rhythm continues SAMAEL's shining path into the new era, started in 2025 with "Black Matter Manifesto", the band's first piece of new music in eight years.

Formed in 1987, with nearly 40 years of continuous activity, SAMAEL is among the most influential forces in extreme metal. Classics like "Worship Him" (1990) and "Passage" (1996) reshaped the dark genres through their unique blend of black, industrial, and symphonic metal. With that signature sound, SAMAEL continues to push boundaries with dark precision and apocalyptic grandeur, remaining as relevant as ever.

SAMAEL comments on "Hail To The Sun": "In troubled times, it is good to come together around something that is meaningful to us all... and what better thing than the sun, which is one but experienced differently by each of us? 'Hail To The Sun' is an anthem that will see you through the summer and keep you warm when winter comes. The song is about overcoming adversity and seizing life's opportunities."

In a March 2025 interview with Finland's Chaoszine, SAMAEL frontman Michael "Vorph" Locher spoke about the progress of the recording sessions for the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2017's "Hegemony" album. He said: "The album is pretty much recorded. It's done, but Xy's [SAMAEL drummer Alexandre 'Xytras' Locher] still doing some adjustment with editing. We are looking for the mix. I mean, we were supposed to start mixing in January [of 2025], but it didn't happen. So, it's gonna be before the summer, I will imagine, then mastering. So our plan is to release one song this year at least, and most probably the album next year then. It's not in the stone, but, yeah, that's the plan so far."

Regarding the musical direction of the new SAMAEL material, Vorph said: "Well, it will have a strong bond to 'Hegemony', but it's not the same. I mean, we kind of try to take advantage of the fact that we've done different things throughout the years. So we got some space that people will accept that this is SAMAEL. So we kind of try to enjoy that space. Some of the crowd, they enjoy [when a band sticks to a formula] — you know what you're gonna get. With us, it's a bit different, but it won't be a total surprise. There is no experimentation of things that we've never, ever done before, but the mix is different and there is a lot more guitar. It's a lot more guitar-oriented. So, yeah, that's one of the differences, I would say."

When the interviewer noted that it is also "sometimes a little bit dangerous" when musicians spend too much time tinkering with recordings, Vorph concurred. "It is. It definitely is," he said. "I mean, all the work that Xy's doing now, for me it is not that important. Because he will play me the song and I'll say, well, 'Oh, the break there with the drums, that was not [there before], ah, it's cool, but does it make the song really better?' Ah, maybe [very little], but for him it's very important, especially because it took him so long, so he don't wanna miss one little thing… I'm a bit more, 'Let's do it.' He's really picky about everything."

In December 2024, SAMAEL guitarist Thomas "Drop" Betrisey took to his Facebook page to share a photo of Vorph and Xytras, along with acclaimed Swedish producer Daniel Bergstrand, and he included the following message: "The legendary Daniel Bergstrand traveled to Switzerland to produce the vocals for the upcoming SAMAEL album. The recording is now complete. New music in 2025! I can confidently say these tracks are outstanding!"

In June 2020, SAMAEL announced the addition of bassist Ales Campanelli to the group's ranks.

A former member of SYBREED, OBSYDIANS and THE ERKONAUTS, Ales had been playing with Betrisey for many years. He was no stranger to the machines-versus-humans music of SAMAEL and had known the band since its early black metal days.

Campanelli made his live debut with SAMAEL as part of Tohuwabohu, a worldwide, pay-what-you-want streaming metal event, in June 2020.

Ales joined SAMAEL as the replacement for Pierre "Zorrac" Carroz (SCARS DIVIDE, HEROD),who had played with the group since July 2018.

Longtime SAMAEL guitarist Marco "Makro" Rivao left the band in April 2018 "to do something different." Bassist Drop has since taken over guitar duties in the group.

"Hegemony" was released in October 2017 via Napalm Records.

SAMAEL is:

Michael "Vorph" Locher - Guitars, Vocals
Alexandre "Xytras" Locher - Drum programming, Keyboards, Samples and Percussion
Thomas "Drop" Betrisey - Guitars
Ales Campanelli - Bass

Photo credit: @sherman13 / Grupa13