Dun Ringill Premiere “Blood of the Lord” Video; Discuss Concept Album
With the advent of ‘Blood of the Lord’ — the audio of which was released last week and the purposefully grainy, narrative-plus-performance-footage video for which you can see premiering below — Swedish doom rockers Dun Ringill move one step further to their next full-length, Where the Old Gods Play Act 1. As the number in the title implies, it’s not the only ‘act’ to come, but part of a duology with Act 2 to follow the first installment sometime in between now and next Spring through The Sign Records. But that’s fine, since it seems like the Gothenburg outfit are giving plenty for listeners to dig into either way as they move forward, and maybe a bit of time to digest Act 1 is reasonable ahead of the conclusion.
To wit, “Blood of the Lord” is 4:46 in the video, but you’re probably going to want to hear the track two or three times before it really begins to sink in. There’s an immediate hook, which is helpful — a severe, pious melody behind the throaty incantations of vocalist Thomas Eriksson — but that melody is from an actual chorus, and thrice-over guitar only gives an even grander sensibility to the track. It’s not haphazard or kitchen-sink’ed for the sake of rudderless maximalism, but there’s a lot going on in sound over that solidified structure, and that’s before you even get to the actual themes of the album, song, video, etc.
You might recall way back in Nov. 2022, Dun Ringill put out “Awakening” (video premiere here) as the first A/V sign of Where the Old Gods Play Acts 1 & 2 to come. At that point, they gave a bit of background on the tale, saying, “The storyline is set in 1904 
on the Isle of Skye in Scotland where Lucia, with low self-esteem from her troubled past, meets a local church group which is led by a strong, charismatic and manipulative individual.” She joins a cult, in other words. We’ve all been there, right? Maybe your cult is weed, maybe it’s riffs — mine is doom and Star Trek — maybe it’s playing squash on Thursdays, hell, maybe it’s your band, but as human I think we learn that the drive to belong to something bigger can be a treacherous impulse to follow. Maybe you find a home, maybe you find a trap. Maybe you find both.
Perhaps that’s a bit of what’s going on here in terms of plot as protagonist Lucia leaves behind her ‘mother church’ in favor of the new place she’s found in the Scottish Highlands, and fair enough. Dun Ringill are less dogma-takedown than they might otherwise be — at least here; recall there’s two LP’s worth of material still to come — and seem to prefer to serve the characters and action rather than the underlying message, which is how a project like this works without being crushed by its own ambitions. If you caught wind either of 2020’s Library of Death (review here) or 2019’s debut, Welcome (review here), the contextual backdrop of classic doom will feel consistent with what’s come before, but this isn’t the kind of thing a band takes on lightly, especially for a third (and fourth) record.
Much intrigue here. Four months after the first single (they’re going quarterly, which I can appreciate), Dun Ringill directly speak in sound to the ‘going-big’ implications in the concept behind Where the Old Gods Play Acts 1 & 2. And I won’t put too fine a point on it, but why the hell not? If we’ve learned anything since Library of Death it’s that life is too short to stifle yourself. Fucking a, Dun Ringill. All-in. Do it. It’ll be the better part of at least another year before this full story is told, but the plot thickens on multiple levels with “Blood of the Lord,” and one is eager to see where they go from here. I guess it’ll be a few more months, huh?
More background from the band (via the PR wire) follows the video itself on the player below.
Please enjoy:
Dun Ringill, “Blood of the Lord” video premiere
Dun Ringill returns with second single from double concept album!
Get it: https://orcd.co/dunringill_bloodofthelord
Dun Ringill returns with the second single leading up to their double concept album ”Where the Old Gods Play Act 1 & 2”. ”Blood of the Lord” is an epic track by the Swedish 6-piece group on which Nordic folk influences are combined with doom and progressive metal to create huge, monumental soundscapes. The single tells the story about the concept album’s main character Lucia’s religious conversion from Catholicism to Protestantism.
Dun Ringill on ”Blood of the Lord”:
“A big meaning needs a big sound!!!
This song has one of the deepest meanings on this conceptual album and it inspired us to write one of our most epic tracks ever!
To bring the feeling of the lyrics alive, we used choirs for the first time ever and accompanies it with three-harmony guitars, playful drums and super heavy bass lines to give the song a larger-than-life presence.
The lyrics are about Lucia, who has to convert from Catholicism to Protestantism to take the communion in order to stay in the congregation where she has found peace.
But is there peace within this Parrish?
Note that the chants of Blood of the lord, Body of the lord take a sinister twist towards the end to become Blood for the lord, Body for the lord….”
”Blood of the Lord” (radio edit) is out on all streaming platforms from the 3rd of March. Dun Ringill’s double concept album will be released as two separate albums during 2023 and 2024 respectively via The Sign Records.
Upcoming gigs with Dun Ringill:
14/4 – Retro Bar, Raufoss, Norway
15/4 – Telerock, Notodden, Norway
19-20/5 – Kristiflax festivalen, Tjörn, Sweden
Dun Ringill is:
Thomas Eriksson – Vocals (Also in Intoxicate and Ex-Grotesque and Doomdogs)
Neil Grant – Drums (Ex- End Of Level Boss and RAAR)
Patrik Andersson Winberg – Bass (Ex The Order of Israfel and Doomdogs)
Jens Florén – Guitar ( Also in Lommi and ex live guitarist for Dark Tranquillity)
Tommy Stegemann – Guitar ( Ex Silverhorse)
Patric Grammann – Guitar ( Ex Southern Festival Train and Neon Leon)
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