A pair of new albums from atmospheric black metal project Panopticon will meet a release on August 15th via Birdrune Recordings. Austin Lunn, the mastermind behind the band, will be exploring two different sonic facets with those sets. First up is the dark folk-themed “Laurentian Blue“, Lunn said of it:
“Panopticon returns with its darkest folk material to date, a companion record to “…and again into the light”. A collection of songs that deal with the darkness of the human experience and the light that we look for to carry us through our lives. This album is an introspective look into the navigation through love, loss, political and social turmoil and the passing of one generation to the next. It is deeply inspired my Minnesota’s north woods while still maintaining the southern folk aesthetic sound that Panopticon was born and raised in.”
“Laruentian Blue” track listing:
01 – “A Liberation Song”
02 – “The Poetry In Road Kill”
03 – “Ever North (Laurentian Blue)”
04 – “Dialogue ( I Want To Be Alone)”
05 – “Flowers In The Ditch”
06 – “An Argument With God”
07 – “Irony And Actuallity”
08 – “Down along the Border” (written by Richard Inman)
09 – “This Mortal Coil Is Rusted”
10 – “Broken Bars”
11 – “Ely In The Dark”
The track “This Mortal Coil Is Rusted” has newly been shared from that eleven-song set. The other new album set for August 15th is “Songs Of Hiraeth“, which compiles newly re-mixed and remastered odds and ends from the Panopticon catalog. Lunn explained:
“‘Songs Of Hiraeth‘ : The album that never happened.
All of these songs were written and recorded from 2009 to 2011. During this time period, I wrote a lot of music. Bek and I were traveling a lot…I was new to traveling outside of the country, and so seeing Northern Europe for the first time impacted me greatly. We were in our twenties, no kids, no real responsibilities… just working our jobs and being around our community… and with what money we could save, we traveled. Just the two of us. Typically in remote places in the north of the USA, or in Northern Europe.
It was the first time I had experienced those eco systems, and it had a profound effect on me and the kind of music I was writing. In particular, ‘On the Subject Of Mortality‘. The material on this record was either used for splits with friends bands ( the first 3 being from a split with Wheels within Wheels ) or simply sat on a computer to be forgotten, intended for splits that never materialized. The only material that ever made it to vinyl was the 2 songs that were on the split with Vestiges, which were the last to be written and recorded of this material. It’s been an enjoyable project going back into the sessions, remixing them and cleaning them up, revisiting that nostalgic time in our life together. It looks a lot better in the rear view mirror, as most things do, but I look back on it all fondly.
Bek took all the photos on our camping tour in Norway…most of it was taken in the Sunndalsøra area. Some was taken in Drammen, where we lived for a short time a couple years later. The cover is two photos I had always wanted to use as album covers but never got the chance, combined. I did a painting of the mountains for ‘The Rime of Memory‘. The others were taken along the highway in locations unknown near the Swedish border. Our friend Death metal Dave did back up vocals on ‘The End is Growing Near‘ back in 2009 or 10. Spenser Morris did the editing, remixing and mastering over the past year or so (2024-2025).
Thanks to Bek for being my adventure partner and giving me a nudge out the door, to Spenser for making this come to life, to all my Louisville friends who sat in my basement drinking beer with me while I worked on these songs a decade and a half ago. And thanks to you for listening to this. Don’t let the fire burn out.”
“Songs Of Hiraeth” track listing:
01 – “The Road To Bergen”
02 – “From Bergen To Jotunheimen”
03 – “The White Mountain View”
04 – “Haunted America II”
05 – “The End Is Growing Near”
06 – “A Letter”
07 – “The Eulogy”
“The White Mountain View” from that set has newly gone up online below. Physical pre-sales for both outings can be found via Birdrunerecordings.com (U.S.) and nordvis.com (Europe).
