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| LORD VIGO - Walk the Shadows LP | |
HRR 1004LP, ltd 750, 300 x black, 350 x swamp green + 100 x transparent black/ bone splatter vinyl, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, insert, download code | |
| Vinz Clortho - Vocals, Drums, Synth Volguus Zildrohar - Guitar, Bass, Synth Toni Scoleri - Guitar, Bass, Synth Zuul - Livebass Ivo Shandor - Livedrums | |
| 01 A Morbid Realm 02 Walk the Shadows 03 Through a Glass Darkly 04 We Shall Not 05 Killing Hearts and Endless Nights 06 Servant of the Dark 07 The Triumph of the Killing Heart 08 El Hakim | |
AVAILABLE | |
“Take heed, mortals – May 2025 – the new Lord Vigo album »Walk The Shadows« marks its descent into our realm. Dare thee to venture into this sonic abyss? For within lies not just music, but a maelstrom of soul and sinew, a requiem for the meek, and a hymn for the eternal defiant.
»Walk The Shadows« – no mere album, but an omen.
Hear it, and be forever unbound.”
Lord Vigo
Epic doom metal masters Lord Vigo from Landstuhl in Rhineland-Palatinate will issue their sixth full-length album in May 2025 on High Roller Records. Following the highly-regarded »Danse De Noir« (2020) and »We Shall Overcome« (2022), which formed part one and part two of a trilogy, the new work »Walk The Shadows« is not connected to this concept.
“»Walk The Shadows« stands on its own and is not part of the trilogy”, explains drummer, vocalist and keyboard player Vinz Clortho. “There is no coherent concept this time around, not a specific plot. These are all individual songs. It was quite a change for us after two very elaborate concept albums, and it was fun. However, the quality is still there. In my opinion the songs and the overall sound are much more important than the lyrics, for any album. A fitting lyrical concept can be a nice extra though.”
Once again, the band took everything in their own hands on »Walk The Shadows«, as Vinz elaborates: “That’s correct. Apart from mastering and cover artwork we did everything ourselves. The production took the entire year, even though most of the songs were already completed. It’s a special kind of album. Some of the songs were written twelve years ago but we had never finished them. We finally achieved doing that in 2024.”
Songs like ”Through A Glass Darkly“, “Servant Of The Dark” or “The Triumph Of The Killing Heart” evoke some sort of Gothic Horror feel. Vinz can identify with this description: “This might well be the case. Personally I am much into dark and sad music. It’s hard though to pin down the entire album to one style. I think that »Walk The Shadows« is not for everybody, some people will love it and some will hate it. But I am absolutely okay with that. I urge fans to give it a chance though – they might actually find something they didn’t look for, and like it.”
If you really delve into »Walk The Shadows«, you will find a pretty eclectic mix of epic metal, gothic rock and post-punk, with traces of Sisters Of Mercy, Fields Of The Nephilim and even The Cure. “I would agree”, says Vinz Clortho. “The album combines several different styles to create something entirely new. My roots are in classic metal which means that the songs on the new album, which are definitely leaning in a dark rock direction, have taken a life on its own. I am not aware of a single album even vaguely sounding like »Walk The Shadows«. I just don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
“’Walk The Shadows’ is going to be the leading single,” continues Vinz. “We are also shooting a video for that. Apart from that, every song stands on its own and therefore it’s hard to single out specific tracks. Obviously, with a playing time of twelve minutes ‘El Hakim’ is not only the longest track on the album but also the most atmospheric. That’s another favourite of mine.”
So all in all, is »Walk The Shadows« a natural progression for Lord Vigo? “Stylistically, it surely is some kind of leap for us,” confesses Vinz Clortho, “but this is exactly the reason why I think it could be a defining album for the band. There are bands writing the same record over and over again. But that’s not us. With Lord Vigo every album sounds different. We are leaving our comfort zone here. Commercially this might not make sense. But we don’t care. It’s great to be successful. But we would like to be successful on our own terms. When we write new music, we don’t primarily write it to become commercially successful.”
Regarding his vocal delivery, Vinz Clortho did experiment as well: “In some places I am singing a whole octave below my normal register. And that worked surprisingly well. It’s one reason why the album now sounds as it sounds. Another good example for the benefits of leaving one’s comfort zone.”
MATTHIAS MADER