Our new single How To Swim Down is out now, alongside an incredibly moving music video directed and animated by Boy Tillekens.

Watch here: https://t.co/L3xl29kMWJ” pic.twitter.com/HKciGko1rR

— Svalbard (@Svalbardband) August 15, 2023

“How To Swim Down” is the third single Svalbard have shared in anticipation of the album’s release, after previous sharing “Following Eternal Spirits” (a song written in tribute of ex-Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison) and “Faking It.” The song presents frontwoman Serena Cherry opting for a complete clean vocal performance and, for the first time, guitarist Liam Phelan featured on violin. The song represents a departure in sound for what the band are usually known for and offers a perfect glimpse into what The Weight Of The Mask has to offer.

Svalbard have also released a beautifully animated video created by Boy Tillkens to accompany the new single. Cherry has stated that the animation captures the emotions of the song delicately and is a moving creative piece to watch.

Speaking of the song, Cherry said, “this song is about the exquisite pain and sorrowful beauty of unrequited love. I think it’s the saddest, most heartbreaking song we’ve ever written. Lyrically, the starting point of the verse is about concealment of adoration, before the chorus gives way to realising and accepting a fate of loving someone quietly from afar.”

Never a band to shy away from challenging the parameters of their genre, Svalbard have nonetheless ventured into parts unknown with “How To Swim Down,” with Phelan taking a starring turn on violin for the first time in the band’s 12 year history. Cherry’s is also a notable performance on the song, as the singer decided to abandon the harsh screams for a more straight forward clean approach.

Cherry explains, “musically, ‘How To Swim Down’ saw us dive into uncharted waters with Liam adding many layers of mournful violin parts onto the track. Finally, violins-for the first time in Svalbard history! It feels so exciting to have new instruments on a song. Another first is that ‘How To Swim Down’ features only clean vocals, no screams….It’s a private, selfless love song, where only the listener knows of my heartache.”

Svalbard were formed in Bristol in 2011 and quickly made a name for themselves, blending the ferocity of hardcore and metal with existential reflections of black metal and shoe-gaze. The band will release The Weight Of The Mask on 6 October via Nuclear Blast Records and will feature on October’s Cult Of Luna’s Beyond The Redshift Festival. Tickets can be purchased here. Pre-orders of the new album can be found here.

Svalbard Tour:

13/10/2023 – Soulcrusher – Nijmegen, Netherlands
15/10 – Helios 37 – Cologne, Germany
16/10 – Urban Spree – Berlin, Germany
17/10 – Chemiefabrik – Dresden, Germany
18/10 – Stummsche Reithalle – Neunkirchen, Germany
19/10 – O’Sullivan’s Backstage by the Mill – Paris, France
21/10 – The Key Club – Leeds

Speaking on social media, Cult of Luna said regarding the announcement: “Now that almost all the lights are in the green, it’s time to bring you the show we’ve dreamed of for so long, and what a great honor to be joined by Russian Circles and Svalbarduk for this.”

The ever-prolific Cult of Luna recently released their ninth full-length studio album in February The Long Road North, which follows along from 2020’s The Raging River. The album was well-received by fans and critics alike, with Metal Injection saying in a glowing review that the record is: “more mature, nuanced and consistent than their 2019 masterpiece, A Dawn to Fear.”  You can listen to “Into the Night” from the record down below.

Co-headliner Russian Circles have also been busy lately, having just announced a new album entitled Gnosis, which will mark their eighth full-length record. The band has released a single “Conduit” alongside the album announcement; a tune that explores the grittier, heavier side of the band’s sound, which can range from thoughtful and placid to crushing and dissonant. Awash with grimy tremolo picked guitars and a thick distorted bass sound that growls and bellows in the background, the song sets the tone for a dark, noisy metal record. Take a listen down below.

Support act Svalbard are an excellent genre-blending group who any metal fan should know about. The outfit, comprised of guitarist and vocalist Serena Cherry, drummer Mark Lilley, bassist Matt Francis and guitarist Liam Phelan have been at it since 2011, and released their third studio album When I Die, Will I Get Better? in 2020. The record has since been named the 5th best metal album of 2020 by Metal Hammer. You can listen to the record on all streaming services, and you can also listen to it on YouTube, via the link below.

A complete list of dates for Cult of Luna’s EU tour with Russian Circles and Svalbard can be viewed down below.

17/03/2023- -Store Vega- Copenhagen, Denmark
18/03- Huxleys- Berlin, Germany
19/03- Schlachthof- Wiesbaden, Germany
20/03 -Tivoli Ronda- Utrecht, Netherlands
21/03- AB- Brussels, Belgium
22/03- Olympia- Paris, France
23/03- Wizzemna- Stuttgart, Germany
24/03- Les Docks- Lausanne, Switzerland
25/03- Kino Siska- Ljubljana, Slovenia
27/03- Arena- Vienna, Austria
28/03- Muffathalle- Munich, Germany
29/03- Roxy- Prague, Czech Republic
30/03- Studio- Krakow, Poland
31/03- Progresja- Warsaw, Poland

Svalbard are a group who have been gaining a great deal of well-deserved traction over the last year, following the release of their third LP When I Die, Will I Get Better?, which Metal Hammer named the fifth best metal album of 2020. The record was released on a number of different vinyl pressings, the majority of which are sold out over on their Bandcamp page.

In a glowing 9/10 review by Distorted Sound Magazine, writer Graham Ray said: “This is the closest SVALBARD have come to pure perfection. It’s a more focused and driven album than their previous work that shows great maturity and allows every aspect of the band to shine bright. It’s haunting, heart-wrenching and breathes power. The UK metal scene is in safe hands with bands like SVALBARD carrying the torch.”

Sonically, the album embraces the “post” aspect of post-metal with open arms, favouring heavenly, reverb-laden guitar lines that streak across the musical landscape of the album like comets, whilst an artillery barrage of drums thunder alongside them. Amidst these great shoegaze-esque textures sit the formidable vocals of singer and guitarist Serena Cherry, who delivers extremely literal, scathing lyrics throughout the record, concerning a great deal of pressing subjects. The song “Click Bait” for example, concerns shady music publications using her name in fabricated stories as a means to generate attention, and “What Was She Wearing?” addresses the prevalent issue of misogynistic victim blaming: “Showing flesh, showing flesh does not invalidate me.”

Whilst the group have always had a sound focused around post-metal, they have always dabbled in other sonic pools, with their second album It’s Hard To Have Hope exploring the uber-heavy world of blackened hardcore. With this record, the band have taken a noticeable turn into the black metal (or post-black metal, because we needed more genre subdivisions) world, crafting a sound that evokes memories of Explosions In The Sky and Alcest. The record is available via all streaming services, and you can find remaining physical copies here.

Listed below are the band’s upcoming tour dates.

09/03/2022- The Loft- Southampton
10/03- Parish- Huddersfield
11/03- KK’s Steel Mill- Wolverhampton
12/03- The Forum- London
13/03- Firebug- Leceister
19/03- The Hat Factory- Luton
20/03- Junction- Plymouth

According to a press release, the album’s title was taken from a book, and allowed SVALBARD to interpret the meaning to fit with their themes. These include mental health and suicide, heaven and religion, sexism and misogyny, and societal observations. Despite heavy lyrics, the record is tinged with hope and healing.

The singles ‘Open Wound’ and ‘Listen to Someone’ were shared in July and August respectively, and have become widely popular among fans. ‘Open Wound’ is in fact the album opener, and is described as a heavy metal foundation drenched in “melancholic melody that pervades each and every effervescent track thereafter.”

After recent sexual abuse allegations against Alex Fitzpatrick, founder of Holy Roar records who SVALBARD were signed with, the band announced that they had cut all ties with the label. Ultimately, the album was still able to be released under Church Road Records, which is the new label set up by Justine Jones, former manager of Holy Roar. Furthermore, to show their support, the band will be donating a portion of each sale to Rape Crisis.

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We are very happy to announce that we will now release “When I Die, Will I Get Better?” via Church Road Records – the new venture of former Holy Roar label manager, Justine Jones. The release date remains 25th September and pre-orders are now available from svalbard.bandcamp.com and the link in our bio Translation Loss will release the album in North America and Tokyo Jupiter will release the album in Japan, neither label having any affiliation to Holy Roar so all aspects of their release remain unchanged. We are fortunate to have worked with Justine for many years, her passion, dedication and label knowledge has been instrumental in our growth as a band. She’s a person in the music industry who genuinely cares. We are proud to be releasing this record on Church Road Records. Justine is doing everything she can to keep the release on track, however please be patient if minor delays occur along the way or if things continue to appear online under the Holy Roar label during the transition period – we will keep everyone informed via our socials of all developments. We will be donating a portion of each record sale through Church Road to Rape Crisis. We have chosen to support this charity as their centres, helplines and campaign for change against sexual assault are so desperately needed. Thank you for being understanding, supportive and patient – and to Justine and Sammy at Church Road Records for all their hard work ensuring our album still gets released. (In the interest of complete transparency, the stock that Through Love, Evil Greed and ourselves are selling was manufactured by Holy Roar and purchased from the label at cost price but will have the logo stickered over. If we did not use this stock we would have to delay the album until next year, the already pressed CDs and LPs would have to be destroyed which would be terrible for the environment and could have ended up costing us thousands of pounds. We hope you agree that this is the best course of action to help us move forward without hindrance.)

A post shared by SVALBARD (@svalbard) on Sep 18, 2020 at 2:10am PDT

SVALBARD, named after a Norwegian island group, released their first EP in 2012, touring the UK and Europe numerous times since. They collaborated with Daniel P. Carter in 2014 on the split album ‘Pariso’, before sharing their debut studio album ‘One Day All This Will End’, in 2015. This was followed by sophomore album ‘It’s Hard To Have Hope’, and now, ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’.

Track listing:
1. Open Wound
2. Click Bait
3. Throw Your Heart Away
4. Listen to Someone
5. Silent Restraint
6. What Was She Wearing
7. The Currency Of Beauty
8. Pearlescent