Norwegian black metal extremists RAGNAROK have set October 30th in Europe and November 6th in North America as the release dates for their seventh full-length outing on Poland’s Agonia Records. The album, titled “Malediction”, will comprise of 10 new tracks closing in on 44 minutes and is going to be available as a jewelcase CD (limited to 1st press), digital download and limited vinyl with an exclusive bonus track.
The band issued ZT with the following statement: “As far as every one of us in the band is concerned ‘Malediction’ is the best and most professional album RAGNAROK has ever recorded. If we had to compare it to any of our previous releases, it’s probably closest to ‘Blackdoor Miracle’ and ‘In Nomine Satanas’ – more technical, but without losing any of the ‘straight in your face’ attitude we are known for.
We chose the title ‘Malediction’ because of its connotations. It comes from the Latin ‘maledictio’ which means to utter something bad or evil – curse someone in other words, so that adversity or unhappiness will befall them. We thought the title was fitting since the album explores suffering, hate and negativity in general, not just in its lyrics, but also in the music itself.
We are planning a couple of release parties for ‘Malediction’, one of which will take place at the Metal Legacy Festival in Stromstad, Sweden, on the 27th October, which is fitting since we recorded the album with MARDUK’s Devo at his Endarker Studios in Sweden, and we’re just working out the details for one in Oslo. We are also due to play our first ever North American show on the 24th November at the Messe des Morts Festival in Montreal, Canada and we are looking to take RAGNAROK live as much as we possibly can in the future. We know from the interaction we have with our fans on Facebook and elsewhere that they want to see us on stage, so hopefully they will!
It’s no secret that RAGNAROK has had its ups and downs in the past, and we have perhaps suffered in terms of recognition as a consequence, but with ‘Malediction’ we finally have a dedicated, stable line up and we are able to demonstrate that not only does this band never give up, but it is still able to create genre-defining albums. And this is only a taste of what you can expect from RAGNAROK in the future”.
You can stream one of the new songs – “Blood of Saints” – at THIS LOCATION.
Catch Ragnarok live too:
27/10/2012 – Metal Legacy Festival, Stormstad, SWEDEN
22-23-24/11/2012 – Messe des Morts Festival, Montreal, CANADA
20/04/2013 – Kings Of Black Metal, Alsfeld, GERMANY
