Swedish Heavy Metal Titans PORTRAIT Share Music Video For New Single “From The Urn”

For almost two decades, Sweden’s Portrait has delivered their brand of heavy metal darkness to the masses. Following 2021’s critically acclaimed “At One With None,” the band returns with their sixth album “The Host,” their first-ever concept album, set for release on June 21st through Metal Blade Records.

Today we get to enjoy a second taste of the album, via the single “From The Urn”. Watch the video below.

Founding guitarist Christian Lindell elaborates on the band’s latest single, “‘From The Urn’ is a song in which the main character of the story realizes that he has stronger connections with the realm of the dead than with any person still alive. A lot of stuff going on in this one musically, showcasing a bit of our progressive side, but still filled with hooks that shall leave incurable wounds.”

Pre-order “The Host,” HERE.

Lindell describes the new offering as “an occult tale of sword and sorcery, accompanied by some of the most passionate heavy metal ever recorded. The story takes place in seventeenth-century Sweden and revolves around an unnamed protagonist who, because of his experiences with the injustice and hypocrisy of this world, decides to seek truth and strength through its ‘Adversary.’”

Although partly inspired by historical events, the story should not be mistaken for a history lesson. “No, definitely not. There do exist court documents from that era in which people who were forced to join the army stood accused of having made pacts with the Devil, asking for luck, strength in battle and so on. That is what inspired us to place the story in that particular setting. I just caught that ball — or Baal — and ran away with it. That being said, it is no fantasy tale either, and the ‘sword and sorcery’ part will be understood by everyone reading the lyrics.”

On the musical side, Portrait‘s co-founding drummer Anders Persson adds that the album “is a versatile entity, showing all sides of what has become our own style of heavy metal, identity, and sense of melody, yet with some new areas explored in several directions. There are songs that are our fastest and most ‘extreme’ so far along with songs of an almost semi ballad feeling. It blends perfectly together musically and fits the dramaturgy of the story. There are songs that will make you cry and songs that will make you shit your pants.”

Portrait’s “The Host,” the first album to feature guitarist Karl Gustafsson as part of the band’s lineup, was recorded in JFK Studio in Sweden. Mixing and production tasks were handled by singer Per Lengstedt at his own Perilous Productions Studio. The record will be released on CD and digital formats as well as vinyl in the following color variants: