The German progressive black metal band Der Weg einer Freiheit are announcing an instrumental version of their critically-acclaimed sixth album. The instrumental version of Innern marks the album’s one-year anniversary by highlighting the compositions and instrumentation that underpins one of the band’s most introspective albums.
Along with the announcement, today, Der Weg einer Freiheit are releasing the instrumental version of “Xibalba” across all digital platforms. The song carries particular significance for Innern. It was the first song on the album that the band finished the instrumentation for but was the last to receive vocals.
Listen to the instrumental version of “Xibalba” below:
The instrumental version of Innern comes out on all digital platforms September 11, 2026 via Season of Mist.
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"The initial idea came from our bassist, Alan," says Der Weg einer Freiheit vocalist and guitarist Nikita Kamprad. Alan Noruspur spent months living with the instrumental version of "Xibalba" during the writing process for Innern. He found himself missing it once vocals were added. That attachment led the band to reconsider an idea they had floated even before the original release of Innern: a fully instrumental companion to the album.
The instrumental edition is not simply a muted version of the original mix. Kamprad built an entirely new mix for the release, rebalancing instrument levels and adding new atmospheric layers in places. "The instrumental version has to carry the same atmosphere, emotion and narrative on its own," he explains. "Removing the vocals allows all of these carefully crafted details to breathe." With the vocal layer gone, the synthesizers and ambient textures that give Innern its cinematic scale, treated by Kamprad as compositional elements rather than embellishments, move to the foreground, alongside the interplay between Kamprad and Nicolas Rausch's guitars, Alan Noruspur's bass and Tobias Schuler's drums.
"Every song usually begins as an instrumental composition, so in many ways, this version of Innern represents the songs in their original form” Kamprad says. “We don't see it as an alternative to the original album, but as another perspective on the same body of work, one that places the focus entirely on the music itself."
The original version of Innern is available now on Season of Mist
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Catch Der Weg einer Freiheit this fall on their headline tour of Europe with Conjurer and Brnjsmin
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Der Weg einer Freiheit 2026 European Fall Tour
with Conjurer and Brnjsmin
October 16 - Dresden, DE @ Groovestation
October 17 - Kraków, PL @ Zascianek
October 18 - Warsaw, PL @ Mechanik
October 19 - Brno, CZ @ Melodka
October 20 - Graz, AT @ Explosiv
October 21 - Milano, IT @ Q-Hub
October 22 - Wörgl, AT @ Komma
October 23 - Sion, CH @ Le Port Franc
October 24 - Langenthal, CH @ Old Capitol
October 25 - Maastricht, NL @ Samhain (without Brnjsmin)
October 26 - Cologne, DE @ Essigfabrik
October 27 - Marburg, DE @ KFZ
October 28 - Bremen, DE @ Tower
October 29 - Hanover, DE @ Bei Chez Heinz
October 30 - Rostock, DE @ Peter Weiss Haus
October 31 - Stuttgart, DE @ Kulturquartier
DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT stand now at the peak of a fifteen-year evolution. Their music is as concerned with silence as it is with sound, as shaped by introspection as by fury. As they prepare to bring Innern to European stages in autumn 2025, they do so not as provocateurs of extremity, but as artists navigating the fragile space between collapse and clarity. In a genre often defined by spectacle, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT remain committed to vulnerability, transformation, and truth.
Line-up:
Nikita Kamprad — Guitars
Nicolas Rausch — Guitars
Alan Noruspur — Bass
Tobias Schuler — Drums
Production Credits:
Recorded, mixed & mastered in Würzburg, Germany by Nikita Kamprad.
Drums recorded separately at Studio Weißmann, Würzburg, Germany.
Cover Art:
Design & layout by Max Löffler (https://maxloeffler.com/)
Photography:
Mario Schmitt
Follow Der Weg Einer Freiheit:
Official Website: https://derwegeinerfreiheit.de/
Bandcamp: https://derwegeinerfreiheit.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/derwegeinerfreiheit
Instagram: http://instagram.com/derwegeinerfreiheit
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/derwegeinerfreiheit
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7e823b0KQoVtLG86Ui5xGD
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/der-weg-einer-freiheit/363526020
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/artist/1386896
Tidal: https://tidal.com/browse/artist/4479035