“Black Matter Manifesto” is the first new song in many years by the famous formation from the city of Sion in southern Switzerland, canonical creators of the so-called the second wave of black metal (with, among others, Norwegians from Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Satyricon, Emperor and Gorgoroth) albums “Worship Him”, “Blood Ritual” and “Ceremony Of Opposites” from the early 1990s or a visionary LP “Passage” from 1996, on which Samael began its progressive march towards sound areas on the border of electronics, industrial metal and symphonic music.
A composition that has just been released “Black Matter Manifesto” it is also an announcement of the ready, new album by Samael, which will see the light of day in 2026 under the colors of the Austrian Napalm Records.
A music video was shot for the single “Black Matter Manifesto”, which you can see below:
“A lot more guitars.” What do we already know about Samael’s new album?
“The album is basically recorded. The plan is to publish at least one song this year, and the new album will most likely be released next year,” he announced in March Michael “Vorph” Locherfrontman of Samael.
The vocalist of the famous Swiss band also commented on the musical direction chosen when creating the new long-player.
“The new material will be strongly related to ‘Hegemony’ (Samael’s previous album from 2017), but it’s not the same. The thing is that in our own way we try to take advantage of the fact that we have been doing different things for years. So there is a certain space that people will accept as Samael’s area of operation. So we try to use this space. Some people like it when a given band sticks to a certain formula – you always know what you’ll get. It’s a bit different with us, but it won’t be a complete surprise. There is no experimenting with things that we have never used before, but their shape is different, and there are many more guitars there. It’s much more guitar-oriented material. So you could say this is one of those differences,” Vorph explained.
In December last year, the guitarist of Samaela Thomas “Drop” Betrisey revealed that a Swede is involved in the production of the long-awaited album of the Swiss legend Daniel Bergstrandone of the most sought-after specialists in the metal scene, whose services were used by, among others, In Flames, Meshuggah, Soilwork, Dark Funeral, Witchery, Dimmu Borgir, Devin Townsend, Strapping Young Lad and recognized Polish brands, including: Behemoth and Decapitated.
“The legendary Daniel Bergstrand came to Switzerland to produce vocals for Samaela’s new album. The recordings have already been completed. New music in 2025! I can say with full confidence that these songs are outstanding,” informed Drop, a musician also in the Geneva band, at the end of 2024 Sybreed under the sign of industrial / groove metal.
It is worth adding that in 2020, the team will be led by the brothers Michael “Vorph” and Alexander “Xy” (drummer and main author of music) Locherów the bass player came in Ales Campanellifriend Thomas “Drop” Betrisey With Sybreedwho knows Samael very well from his iconic black metal beginnings.