New single 'De Vloek Van Het Goud' out on September 17

On Friday, September 17, we will release a new single entitled 'De Vloek Van Het Goud'. The song was recorded during the 'Banners Of Blood' sessions, but not included on the album. The title means 'The Curse Of The Gold' and the song tells how greed, symbolized by gold, came into the world. Its main sources are stanzas 21-22 of Völuspá. The idea that the thrice-burned witch and goddess was reborn each time as one of the three Norns – which I find very compelling – was first put forth by Freya Aswynn if I am not mistaken (in Leaves Of Yggdrasil, p.77-78).

As for the translation of her name, ‘Gullveig’, in the two Dutch translations of the poetic Edda, by Jan de Vries (1938) and Marcel Otten (1994), two different options are chosen. De Vries does not translate her name at all and simply ‘dutchifies’ it as ‘Gulweig’ while Otten translates it as ‘Goudroes’ (literally ‘Gold Fever’). I decided to differ and translate her name as ‘Gouddronk’, which sounds good to my ears and is quite literal (‘gull’ meaning ‘gold’ and ‘veig’ possibly meaning ‘drink’).

'Fires Of Destiny Over Europe' memories

Time for another trip down memory lane . . . Orlok looks back on our shows with Blackdeath and Barathrum in 2017.

"In February 2017, we did a short tour with Blackdeath and Barathrum. What made this especially cool was that it took place almost exactly twenty years after our shows with Barathrum and Sabbat. Herjann, who was our keyboard player in 2014-2015, put a lot of work in putting the shows together. In addition to being the tour manager, he would also join Blackdeath on stage as live guitarist.

In the morning of February 23, we set off for Paris, where the first show would take place. After a drive of about six hours, we reached Paris where we would play our first-ever show in France. The club, Le Klub, turned out to be located in the heart of the city, practically next to the Notre-Dame. 

Arriving in Paris.

'Banners Of Blood' track by track

It's been three months since the release of our new album. The album has received an excellent reception from fans and critics alike. In this blog post, we discuss the album track by track.

New album 'Banners Of Blood' to be released February 11

On February 11, we will release our long-awaited new full-length album, entitled ‘Banners Of Blood'.

'Banners Of Blood' is our sixteenth full-length and features twelve tracks of uncompromising metal music, blending first wave Black Metal and traditional Heavy Metal in a way only Countess can.

The albums features two songs in Dutch and, for the first time, a song in Russian: 'Ledovoye Poboishche' ('Battle On The Ice') tells the story of Alexander Nevsky's great victory over the crusader knights in 1242 CE.

The new album also marks the first appearance on a Countess full-length of guitarist Valgard and keyboardist Häxa. 

Everyone can get a first taste of the new album as of today. A digital single has been released for the song 'Last Man Of Honour'. This song was inspired by the life of Saigo Takamori, who is often considered to have been the last true samurai and who was born on this day in 1828 CE. The single is available on all major platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer as well as a free download on our offical Bandcamp site.

The album's full track list:

1. Sword Of The Millennia
2. Below The Sky
3. Wall Of The North
4. Ledovoye Poboishche
5. Night Of The Fallen
6. Banners Of Blood
7. Pagan Man
8. Fall Of The Achaemenid Empire
9. Slachting Der Saksen
10. Last Man Of Honour
11. Toortsen Uit Het Verleden
12. Sword Symphony