Eternal Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Eternal Kingdom is the fifth full-length album from the Swedish
post-metal
band Cult of Luna
. It was released in 2008 on Earache Records
like the band's previous three albums. The album was recorded at Tonteknik Studios in Umeå
where the band originates from between February to April 2008.
On June 26 it debuted at #47 on the Swedish album chart
, and in 2009 the band were nominated for a Grammis
galan in the category Best Rock Band.
The album is accompanied by a bilingual hardback book and audiobook, Eviga riket, which features new soundscapes and pieces of music written and performed by the band. It was released on February 23, 2010.
The bands guitarist, Erik Olofsson, has said the following about the new album: "It is with great ambition
and struggle we have created a very heavy album. The sound is strong and progressive. Our compositions do not hold back on anything this time!"
Digesting the diary, the band realised that they had stumbled upon the ramblings of a madman. In the diary, Nilsson blamed the death of his wife on the Näcken
, a Swedish folk entity believed to be Satan. The diary created a completely imagined world in which owl men and tree men all contributed to a fantasy story that explained why Nilsson was innocent of the crime.
Awaiting the Eviga riket book release, Erik Jonsson of Västerbottens-Kuriren theorized that the persona of Holger Nilsson must be part or entirely fiction. The name is possibly a play on Nils Holgersson
.
Additional personnel
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
post-metal
Post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal.Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating that his band was trying to move away from common metal conventions...
band Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna
Cult of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umeå. They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna and The Beyond ; however, it is 2004's Salvation that can...
. It was released in 2008 on Earache Records
Earache Records
Earache Records is a heavy metal-oriented record label based in Nottingham, UK and New York, USA. It helped to pioneer extreme metal by releasing many of the earliest grindcore and death metal records in the period 1988-1994.-History:...
like the band's previous three albums. The album was recorded at Tonteknik Studios in Umeå
Umeå
- Transport :The road infrastructure in Umeå is well-developed, with two European highways passing through the city. About 4 km from the city centre is the Umeå City Airport...
where the band originates from between February to April 2008.
On June 26 it debuted at #47 on the Swedish album chart
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....
, and in 2009 the band were nominated for a Grammis
Grammis
The Grammis Awards are the Swedish equivalent of the Grammy Awards. The awards ceremony is generally held each year in February in Stockholm.The awards were established in 1969 and awarded until 1972 when they were cancelled....
galan in the category Best Rock Band.
The album is accompanied by a bilingual hardback book and audiobook, Eviga riket, which features new soundscapes and pieces of music written and performed by the band. It was released on February 23, 2010.
Sound
The album is said to be heavier than the band's previous efforts and has a much darker tone.The bands guitarist, Erik Olofsson, has said the following about the new album: "It is with great ambition
and struggle we have created a very heavy album. The sound is strong and progressive. Our compositions do not hold back on anything this time!"
Theme
Cult of Luna rehearsed in an area that was once the site of a long demolished mental institution. Upon moving their practice space to a different spot on the same site, the band uncovered long forgotten relics of the hospital, including old apparatus and medical journals. Amongst the discovery was the diary of Holger Nilsson, a former inmate of the prison placed there after drowning his wife. The diary was titled 'Tales from the Eternal Kingdom'.Digesting the diary, the band realised that they had stumbled upon the ramblings of a madman. In the diary, Nilsson blamed the death of his wife on the Näcken
Nix
The Neck/Nixie are shapeshifting water spirits who usually appear in human form. The spirit has appeared in the myths and legends of all Germanic peoples in Europe....
, a Swedish folk entity believed to be Satan. The diary created a completely imagined world in which owl men and tree men all contributed to a fantasy story that explained why Nilsson was innocent of the crime.
Awaiting the Eviga riket book release, Erik Jonsson of Västerbottens-Kuriren theorized that the persona of Holger Nilsson must be part or entirely fiction. The name is possibly a play on Nils Holgersson
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils is a work of fiction by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. It was published in two books, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils in 1906 and Further Adventures of Nils in 1907...
.
Reception
Track listing
Fire Was Born
Eternal Kingdom was re-released with their first full length live DVD Fire Was Born on April 27, 2009, along with a re-issue of Eternal Kingdom. The video entered the Swedish DVD charts in third position, while the re-released album entered at number 51 on the music charts.Personnel
Band members- Thomas Hedlund – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Andreas Johansson – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Fredrik Kihlberg – guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Magnus Lindberg – drums and recordingRecordingRecording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
- Erik Olofsson – guitar and graphic design
- Johannes Persson – guitar, vocals and lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
- Klas Rydberg – vocals
- Anders Teglund – keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, electronics and mixing on "Österbotten"
Additional personnel
- Samuel Lindberg – recording of horns
- Pär Olofsson – additional illustration
- Erik Palmsberg – horns on "The Lure (Interlude)" and "Following Betulas"
- David SandströmDavid SandströmDavid Sandström was the drummer for hardcore punk group Refused. After Refused broke up David and the other members of Refused worked on a project entitled TEXT and released one album. Then David went on to do solo work...
– vocals on "Following Betulas"