Nordic folk, doom and progressive metal meet storytelling lyrics on DUN RINGILL’s upcoming, studio recorded album 150 – Where the Old Gods Play Act 1. After the launch of their second album, Library of Death, the Swedish 6 piece decided to challenge themselves further by writing an ambitious double concept album, released as two separate albums during 2023 and 2024 respectively. To enhance the storytelling, the band (now with a new drummer) chose to increase the intensity of their dark, progressive visions whilst still faithfully incorporating their native Nordic folk influences.
DUN RINGILL found a new lease of life when they decided to throw themselves into the grandiose and almost impossible mission of composing a cohesive and well-written story, whilst simultaneously recording a concept record without unwanted pretentiousness. It was important to make the songwriting the main focus, yet at the same time have both the lyrics and music complement each other, making them live in unison and also work independently as individual songs.
During this journey, the band has developed and explored many new areas outside their folk-doom comfort-zone by introducing a strong progressive element, which resulted in an advancement of their technical, musical and emotional expressions. The journey has been vibrant, powerful, challenging and at times very dark. Without the excessive downtime which the pandemic offered, this work would simply never have seen the light of day.
150 – Where the Old Gods Play (Act 1 and 2) are based on a movie script written by Patrik Andersson Winberg (bassist and main songwriter in DUN RINGILL) and Jonas Granath (teacher in religion and literature). Contact has been made with movie producers who have shown great interest in the script thus far. The story, based in Scotland in early 1900, centers around the manipulation of the church with a priest whose secret agenda only reveals itself at the end. The beginning of Act 1 starts with the emotive track “Awakening”. The unmistakable drive and passion of the opener signals the start of a powerful inner-journey, complete with twists and turns for the band but also the now introduced main character, Lucia. Act 1 concludes with “The Last Supper” which will leave the listener on a cliff-edge, almost anxious to discover how the story will unfold by the end of Act 2, which shall be released in 2024.
Welcome to Lucia and DUN RINGILL’s journey Where the Old Gods Play……
150 – Where the Old Gods Play Act 1 will be released on The Sign Records on the 4th of August on vinyl, CD, and all streaming platforms. The album features guest performances by Per Wiberg (Keyboard on “the Parrish”) and Sara Uneback (Violin on “Nathaniel’s Hymn” and intro to “The Devil Wears a Papal Tiara”), and was mastered by Magnus Lindberg.
About DUN RINGILL:
DUN RINGILL started in 2017 as a dark and doomy project with Nordic folk influences, creating music with big harmonies and presenting them with lyrics directly from the land of evil and darkness within the creative mind of bassist Winberg. This quickly evolved into becoming something much bigger and before long the unique musical recipe would be born.
When THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL took a one-year break from September 2017, the rhythm section of that band, Patrik Andersson Winberg (bass) and drummer Hans Lilja (also in Lotus) grabbed the chance to create new music again together with Patrik’s old band mate from the DOOMDOGS era, Tomas Eriksson (INTOXICATE and ex-GROTESQUE). To make this exciting project of DUN RINGILL as great as possible, the band teamed up with Gothenburg’s fella musicians, guitarists Tommy Stegemann (SILVERHORSE), Jens Florén (also in LOMMI & ex-live guitarist for DARK TRANQUILLITY) and Patric Grammann (SFT, NEON LEON).
In Autumn 2020, a line-up reshuffle was made with experienced drummer Neil Grant joining the group after Hans Lilja left. This addition would prove to be influential in pushing their musically boundaries even further by not only adding a progressive oddity to the mix, but simultaneously delving even deeper into the folk and heavy doom and metal worlds which the band already use as their playground.
As a follow up their two highly acclaimed albums Welcome and Library of Death (with average reviews of over 8/10 for both albums), the band toured with acts like CHURCH OF MISERY, YEAR OF THE GOAT and ELDER they also played festivals like Headbangers Open Air and Gloomy days to name just a few.
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)
European Tour With PENTAGRAM:
03.08 DK-Copenhagen, Pumpehuset
04.08 SWE-Gothenburg, The Abyss*
05.08 NOR-Oslo, Parkteatret
06.08 TBA*
07.08 GER-Wiesbaden, Schlachth of
08.08 GER-Dortmund, Junkyard
09.08 GER-Kassel, Goldgrube
10.08 GER-Leipzig, UT Connewitz
11.08GER-Berlin, Lido
12.08 TBA*
*= Dun Ringill only
