While Blackbraid continues to work on the much-anticipated full-length follow-up to last year’s stunning Blackbraid II album, the one-man Indigenous black-metal project has at least offered us a new recording in the form of a cover. In lieu of a battle anthem of his own, he’s just released a fresh take on Norwegian black-metal group I’s “Warriors.”
Blackbraid mastermind Sgah’gahsowá dubbed I leader Abbath “the god of black metal” in a recent Instagram post, and accordingly, he delivers a faithfully brutal take to the latter’s original song, which was from 2006 full-length Between Two Worlds. The cover takes on a similarly death-swung approach, with Sgah’gahsowá rasping out lines about fire, wrath, and hungry hordes riding through the savage lands.
Where it differs most is arguably the bluesier treatment of the guitar solos, as well as Blackbraid’s flashier bass solo near the back end. All the same, you can check out his raging take on “Warriors” up above.
Not much is known about Blackbraid III, other than that Sgah’gahsowá is in the midst of writing the LP.
“I have spent more than half the year cultivating this songs and am very pleased with the progress so far,” he wrote in another recent Instagram post. “This album has become very special to me already and has yet to be fully realized. Without giving away too much I can tell you that this album will definitely see a physical release sometime next summer in the year 2025.”
Ahead of its arrival, Blackbraid performs September 21st at Los Angeles’ C.Y. Festival, and then heads to Europe for a stretch of dates in October. You’ll find the details below.
Blackbraid tour dates 2024:
09/21 Los Angeles, CA – C.Y. Festival
10/11 Nijmegen, Netherlands – Soulcrusher
10/12 Brugge, Beligum – Cactus Club
10/13 Hamburg, Germany – Knust
10/14 Berlin, Germany – Lido
10/15 Wroclaw, Poland – Transformator
10/16 Vienna, Austria – Szene
10/17 München, Germany – Feierwerk
10/18 Solothurn, Switzerland – Kofmehl Kulturfabrik
10/19 Oignies, France – Tyrant Fest
10/20 Essen, Germany – Turock
10/22 Stockholm, Sweden – Kollektivet Livet
10/23 Gothenburg, Sweden – Monument
10/24 Kopenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset