Insomnium announce new album ‘Anno 1696’

INSOMNIUM have announced a brand new album!

Titled Anno 1696, the upcoming album from the Finnish melodic death metal band is the follow-up to 2019’s Heart Like A Grave and is scheduled to be released in February next year, via Century Media Records.

The upcoming album was mixed by Jaime Gomez Arellano (Orgone Studios) and mastered by Tony Lindgren (Fascination Street Studios) and is a concept album based on a short story by bassist/vocalist Niilo Sevänen, woven with sorrow and the last crumbling vestiges of hope, plus wrath and morbid lullabies. Welcome to 1696. Welcome to hell. This is an age of unrest. The age of great famine in the North. The witch hunt is in full swing all across Europe and the gruesome witch trials have even reached the remote and majestic landscapes of Finland and Sweden.

“The Torsåker witch trials were a horrible source of nightmarish inspiration,” Sevänen says of his ghastly muse. “All that talk about 70 women beheaded in this small Swedish parish? It’s real stuff from history! And as if that weren’t enough, there are also some very dark tales of cannibalism and child murder from the years of the great famine.”

Alongside the announcement of the new album, the band have released a new music video for a new song lifted from the upcoming album; Lilian. The new music video was directed by Riivata Visuals.

Speaking about the new song, guitarist Markus Vanhala says, “Lilian is probably the most traditional INSOMNIUM hit song on the album – and an easy starter as a single – before the heavier main course comes in. It shows the lighter shade of the album, before all hope leaves.” Bassist/vocalist Niilo Sevänen adds, “this is Ville‘s composition, and it has some of that old INSOMNIUM feel in it. Felt like a video-song from the start. Lyrically, it tells how the tragic couple in the story met each other in the first place.”

Guitarist Ville Friman concludes, “one of the first songs to emerge during the pandemic era. It has this old INSOMNIUM vibe and tonality that I tend to steer towards every time I pick up the guitar.”

Watch the official music video for Lilian here:

Also, you can view both the track list and artwork for the upcoming new album below:

Track List: 

1. 1696
2. White Christ (feat. Sakis Tolis)
3. Godforsaken (feat. Johanna Kurkela)
4. Lilian
5. Starless Paths
6. The Witch Hunter
7. The Unrest
8. The Rapids
Ltd. Deluxe 2CD Artbook tracks, incl. Songs of the Dusk (EP)
1. Flowers of the Night
2. Stained in Red
3. Song of the Dusk

Anno 1696 is set for release on February 24th via Century Media Records. Pre-orders are available now and can be purchased here.

For more information on INSOMNIUM like their official page on Facebook.