Dive straight into the sludgy, stoner riffs of Finland’s Black Royal and their new song, “13th Moon,” the newest track from the quartet’s upcoming third album, Earthbound. It’s the perfect summation of what these Finns do best—there’s plenty of low-and-slow grooving on the track, but the upbeat pacing also shows some of their more heavy rock-oriented songwriting skills.
That’s not to say that “13th Moon” is soft. The warm stoner grooves are juxtaposed by raspy screams that hint toward death or groove metal, giving the track an edge it otherwise doesn’t have.
Black Royal shared some behind-the-scenes knowledge about the new tune, alongside a premiere.
“The song started as a rehearsal room jam. I had the main riff, and we were excited to do a more up-tempo rocker that would be fun to play live and get some heads moshing. When we first played the song with the whole band it just seemed to click instantly and had this great groove to it. Naturally, we couldn’t resist doing a middle part that starts out heavy and then takes the song to space. Half of the songs on the album, ‘13th Moon’ included, got the final vintage touch from the great Finnish keyboard player, Niko Saarinen, who also plays in Finland´s alt-pop/rock favorites Lasten Hautausmaa and ’70s prog outfit Vesilinja.”
They also offer a peek into the lyrics:
“Lyrically the song is about a natural cycle of the following seasons. Modern time is thought of as linear time. Peasant life was cyclical, where the beginning and the end coincide, cycle of nature, seasons repeat, etc. The end of the spring harvest was the end of the year and the new year started a bit later. To balance it evenly, there was a twelve-day extra time to spend. It was a time for an annual cyclic rebirth where the earth reforms for better and donates plenty of crops. Nature was supposed to stay fertile like before, as well as people were fertile too.”
Drop out of life with Black Royal below. More information about Earthbound is coming in the next few weeks.
