Notorious Swedish black metal collective WATAIN is proud to unleash "The Howling" - the first single from their upcoming new studio album, "The Agony & Ecstasy Of Watain," which will be released on April 29th, 2022.
"The Howling" sets the tone for what will be offered on the band's 7th full-length, an unsettling blackened voyage in 10 chapters that is as inexorably vicious as it is enticing.
E. Danielsson (vocals) adds:
"The Howling refers to the wordless voice of the wild, wailing eerily through the ages, urging us to leave our safe spaces and explore the dark recesses of the great Abyss both within and without. To see it, to learn from it, to know it. "
The single is available in both digital and physical form - a strictly limited 7'' with "The Howling" on its A-side and the Profanatica cover "I Arose" on its B-side can be bought as of today (no pre-order!). The Black Vinyl is exclusively available through Nuclear Blast Mailorder, whereas the Oxblood colored version is being sold in the band's own shop. Act quick as these will be gone fast!
Pre-order / Pre-save The Album "The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain":
PRE-ORDER
Available formats:
- Ltd. Deluxe Gatefold LP in Slipcase (incl. the album on CD)
Grey Marbled (667, NB mailorder excl.)
Dark Red Marbled (666, Band excl.)
(scroll down for a product picture)
- LP
Black
Green w/ Rainbow Splatter (2000, EU retail)
Solid Red (300, via EMP)
Pink (300, NB mailorder)
Blue Marbled (300, UK)
Solid Green (300, Seasons Of Mist)
Transp. Blue (300, Levykauppa Äx & Sound Polluution)
Solid Grey (300, Sweden Rock)
Dark Purple (300, Napalm)
White (300, US Retail)
Red w/ Rainbow Splatter (1800, US retail & NB US mailorder)
Green Marbled (300, NB US mailorder)
- CD Digipak
- Digital Album
WATAIN will join forces with equally infamous Norwegian black metal legends MAYHEM for a tour through North America, aptly labeled "The Sanguine Sodomy Of North America," starting on March 7th, 2022. They will be supported by US blackened speed metal punks MIDNIGHT.
MAYHEM / WATAIN
The Sanguine Sodomy Of North America Tour 2022
Special Guests: MIDNIGHT
March 07: San Francisco, CA, The Regency Ballroom
March 08: Los Angeles, CA, The Wiltern
March 09: Phoenix, AZ, The Nile Theater
March 11: Salt Lake City, UT, The Depot
March 12: Denver, CO, The Summit Music Hall
March 14: Dallas, TX, Amplified Live
March 15: Austin, TX, Mohawk
March 16: Houston, TX, White Oak Music Hall
March 18: Atlanta, GA, Masquerade
March 19: Tampa, FL, Orpheum
March 20: Charlotte, NC, The Underground
March 22: Montreal, QC, Club Soda
March 23: Toronto, ON, The Phoenix
March 25: Worcester, MA, The Palladium
March 26: New York, NY, Irving Plaza
March 27: New York, NY, Irving Plaza
March 29: Baltimore, MD, Baltimore Soundstage
March 30: Pittsburgh, PA, The Roxian
March 31: Detroit, MI, The Majestic
April 01: Chicago, IL, The Vic
April 02: Minneapolis, MN, Skyway Theatre
April 03: Joliet, IL, The Forge
ABOUT WATAIN
Watain crawled out of Satan’s cunt in 1998, and has since then ascended and grown into one of the world’s most well known and notorious Black Metal bands. Their legacy is often referred to with fear, love, confusion or awe, but seldom with indifference.
Their infamous live shows have become a worldwide phenomenon; inimitable ceremonies of wild Black Metal fanatism where the sacred and solemn collides with raw unadulterated force. With their greatly anticipated seventh studio album, Watain continues to arouse and electrify their audience with an unmistakable, adventurous brand of Black Metal Magic, processed and distilled over the course of a 25-year long history.
Recorded live by long time collaborator Tore Stjerna in his infamous Necromorbus studio, now re-located to an old church on the Swedish countryside, ”The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain” takes the listener one huge step closer to the innermost heart of a band that despite always being surrounded by rumors and controversy has always strived for a most sincere and genuine form of expression.
With 10 songs written by the founding trinity of Watain (E. Danielsson, H. Jonsson and P. Forsberg), it is also the first Watain album to be recorded live with a full line up completed by A. Lillo, H. Eriksson and E. Forcas.
The material is further enriched by noble contributions from Farida Lemouchi (ex The Devil’s Blood, now in Molassess) and Gottfrid Åhman (ex In Solitude, now in PÅGÅ).
The lyrics, always a central aspect of every Watain album, range from manic proselytism to profound contemplation on the relativity between life and death, sacred and profane, holy and unholy, agony and ecstasy, eagerly excavating the winding depths of mind and spirit with a new sense of clarity and determination.
Characterized by a morbid sense of beauty mingled with raw primal force, Watain is the wolf that keeps hunting, fearless and free, in the dark night of man.