German metallers LUNAR SHADOW will release their third studio album, Wish To Leave, on March 19 via Cruz Del Sur Music.

Wish To Leave marks a change in direction for LUNAR SHADOW — after two well-received albums of heavy metal-meets-Scandinavian black metal, founder, guitarist and songwriter Max Birbaum had other, more experimental things in mind, namely, taking the band into indie/post-punk territory:

“It certainly sounds different and I suppose many people won’t like it,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to the release; a little controversy in difficult times might just be what everyone needs right now.

“The guitars are taken back a little this time, the gain on our amps is lower, the bass is more prominent. No fast shredding, no wild riffing. But our pants are still tighter than they should be and our boots are pointy — it’s a good album to have a drink to and forget about your problems. Or make them worse… that depends.”

The follow-up to 2019’s The Smokeless Fires was recorded from July to November 2020 in Leipzig under the careful eye of engineer/producer Max Herrmann; V. Santura of DARK FORTRESS and TRIPTYKON fame is responsible for mastering. The artwork was created by renowned Russian artist Denis Forkas Kostromitin.

Birbaum previously announced plans to cease all LUNAR SHADOW live activities after their now-postponed appearance at the 2020 Party.San Open Air festival.

In addition, LUNAR SHADOW and Cruz Del Sur Music decided to repress the long-sold out debut full-length of the band in February. Far From Light repressing will be available on black vinyl (400 copies) with insert and download code.  Available February 15. Pre-order: tinyurl.com/y373lt6v

Track Listing:

1 Serpents Die

2 Delomelanicon

3 I Will Lose You

4 To Dusk And I Love You

5 And Silenced Screamed

6 The Darkness Between The Stars