Slovak black metallers KROLOK have revealed "Súľov", the first track from their third full-length "Hričov-Súľov-Lietava", out internationally on September 25 through Osmose Productions. The song is streaming in full via Osmose's official YouTube channel:
The album is named after three castles, and the running order treats them as such. "Hričov", "Súľov" and "Lietava" sit at positions one, three and five, and they are the long pieces — 13:51, 9:34 and 7:15. Between them run the short ones: "Pod skalnou bránou" (4:06), "Dolu Váhom" (2:19) and the closing "Posledný zárez v čase" (3:02). Three ruins, three passages connecting them, forty minutes end to end. The ruins themselves are real and clustered in the same corner of north-western Slovakia, strung along the Váh — which is presumably what "Dolu Váhom", roughly "down the Váh", is doing sitting between two of them.
The record marks a first for the band. "Enhanced by lyrics sung in the native language for the first time, in which the spirits of the ancient past legends are called upon," Osmose says of the album — KROLOK have previously sung in English, and the switch to Slovak lines up with material drawn this directly from Slovak ground.
"The third long-playing full-length of the immortal Count will take you many centuries back to the glorious times of the mighty Carpathian castles and the mysterious history of Slovakia," the label continues. "Become a part of those old tales and listen up to the sound of eerie fanfares in the misty distance..."
The cover keeps the same promise without saying anything: a painted castle ruin on a crag, half-swallowed by fog, a pale river running out of the valley below it, and the KROLOK crest — a winged beast over a shield — hanging above the whole scene.
This is KROLOK's second album for Osmose. "Hričov-Súľov-Lietava" arrives on jewelcase CD, black vinyl, limited smoke and blue vinyl pressings of 100 copies each, cassette, and digital.
Tracklisting:
- Hričov (13:51)
- Pod skalnou bránou (4:06)
- Súľov (9:34)
- Dolu Váhom (2:19)
- Lietava (7:15)
- Posledný zárez v čase (3:02)