Release:
High Roller Records
24.10.2025
Info:
Following »Romantik I« (2022) and »Romantik II« (2023), Austrian-Hungarian duo BERGFRIED present their new album »Romantik III«, the first for High Roller Records. The group consists of Erech von Lothringen, who is handling all the instruments, and vocalist Anna de Savoy.
The name of Erech von Lothringen is quite well-known in underground circles. Over the last years, he has created a lot of different projects, mostly being associated with black metal. “That’s true,” says the multi-instrumentalist. “Although I’d like to stress that only two EPs of the lot were strictly black metal. Golden Blood, for example, leaned more towards thrash metal, heavy metal and even power metal. I am listening to lot of different metal styles, and black metal is only a very small part of that.”
“I only had the name of the band, and the title of the first EP, »Romantik I«,” Erech von Lothringen explains how BERGFRIED came about in the first place. “Musically I wanted to take the project in the direction of Grime Stone Records. However, that didn’t work out too well as everything turned out more rocky than I had expected. No wonder though, as at the time I was only listening to 70s/80s hard rock and AOR.“
In principle, BERGFRIED are a duo. However, this time around Erech von Lothringen got a lot of help: “I only had to play rhythm and lead guitars on the album. There are real drums on »Romantik III«, handled by Fabio Alessandrini, who was also playing on »Serpent Chariot«, the debut album by Golden Blood. He is usually active for Annihilator, Bonfire and Enforcer.“
“»Romantik III« is the last part of this trilogy,” continues Erech von Lothringen. “Conceptually, “»Romantik III« is the continuation of “»Romantik II«, the whole thing has become a bit more compact musically, and also clearer. There are classic heavy metal songs on the album, but, as on »Romantik II«, there are also a few musical-like passages inbetween. »Romantik III« is a concept album: Anna is wandering through hell looking for her lover, fighting with God (Maria Nesh of Red Eye Temple) and the devil (Sarah Kitteringham of Smoulder). She gets help from the heavenly messenger (Damna of Elvenking). It may sound like the typical fight of good against evil, but everything is not as clear as it seems …”
All in all, »Romantik III« is a very catchy, accessible album and does not sound as dark as some of the song titles seem to imply. It’s melancholic through and through, for sure, but a song like “Fallen From Grace” has strong pop sensibilities. “This is probably down to my love of Meat Loaf,” says Erech von Lothringen. “When as a child I was holding »Bat Out Of Hell« in my hands, I was suspecting the heaviest album of all time. Of course, the record is nothing like that.”
"Dark Wings" - Official Track Stream: https://youtu.be/z5bIKUjkk94
Tracklist:
1. Dark Wings
2. Fallen From Grace
3. Queen of the Dead
4. For the Cursed
5. Gates of Fate
6. Serenades
7. Tears of a Thousand Years
8. Star-Crossed Love
9. Back for More
Line-up:
Erech von Lothringen - Instruments
Anna de Savoy - Vocals
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