Cult of Luna | |
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Cult of Luna at Peace & Love in Borlänge, Sweden in 2009
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Background information | |
Origin | Umeå, Sweden |
Genres | Post-metal, sludge metal, progressive metal |
Years active | 1998 | –present
Labels | Earache, Indie |
Associated acts | Khoma, Convoj, Deportees, The Perishers, Riwen |
Website | cultofluna |
Members |
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Past members |
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Cult of Luna is a Swedish heavy metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. They often perform post-metal music similar to the contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. The band signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, including the commercially successful albums Salvation (2004) and Somewhere Along the Highway (2006). After an extended period of inactivity, Cult of Luna returned with its Indie Recordings debut Vertikal (2013) and companion EP Vertikal II (2013), both drawing heavy inspiration from Fritz Lang's industrious and political 1927 film, Metropolis. The band has released its space-themed seventh album, Mariner (2016), featuring American vocalist Julie Christmas.
They formed from the remnants of a Umeå hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Luna (2001) and The Beyond (2003); however, it is 2004's Salvation that can be considered their 'breakthrough' release. This was followed by Somewhere Along the Highway in 2006, another largely well-received album.
In August 2006, the band released a remake of "Marching to the Heartbeats" from Somewhere Along the Highway entitled "Heartbeats" solely on the internet community MySpace. The song was available for download for a few days and was later removed. The point was to see if the song would be kept alive by file sharing, and was also apparently a statement against the conservative music industry, said keyboardist Anders Teglund in an interview.