‘The Weight of the Mask’ lands later this fall via Nuclear Blast Records and arrives as the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to 2020’s, ‘When I Die, Will I Get Better?’

Bristol standouts Svalbard have made good on the tease of something massive in the works with the reveal of their October 6th full length via Nuclear Blast Records, The Weight of the Mask. The album serves as the follow-up to their lauded 2020 campaign, When I Die, Will I Get Better?

The announcement follows movement from the band earlier this year that offered an indication that Svalbard was set to resurface in a big way. Dropping “Eternal Spirits” back in February, the band offered a poignant tribute to their musical inspirations gone too soon, including a special tribute to founding Slipknot drummer, Joey Jordison.

Of the single, Svalbard lead Serena Cherry explained, “On a more personal level, Joey Jordison was the person who inspired me to pick up an instrument. I started learning drums when I was 12 years old because of the energy and passion he exuded from his playing. When I listened to his drumming, every hit gave me a surge of motivation. His creative spark lit a fire within me that will never be extinguished. I’d like to dedicate ‘Eternal Spirits’ to his memory.“

Beginning the march towards the October release date of The Weight of the Mask, Svalbard has shared a second single with the introduction of the incendiary, “Faking It”. Combining the band’s knack for aggression and melody, Cherry delivers a powerhouse performance while depicting an honest take on living with depression and difficult reality of “faking it” to get through the day. The emotionally-charged single is backed by a performance that clearly showcases Svalbard’s level up as songwriters.

Cherry explains of the track the duality loaded in the track and accompanying video, “Faking It is a song about feeling deprived of meaningful human connection due to depression acting like a wall that shuts you off from others. It addresses the ways in which those who suffer with depression can feel guilted into putting on a happy mask. The lyrics are a reflection on happiness as a social obligation and how scarily good you can become at deceiving everyone around you into thinking that you’re fine when you’re not.”

Cherry continues, “With ‘Faking It’, we are both acknowledging the pressure for forced positivity, the fear that people won’t like you if you’re sad, and also questioning where the root of this intolerance towards depression lies.” 

The guitarist frontwoman went onto to share how the single is indicative of the themes that exist throughout the new album. “If the previous record was about facing your demons, then ‘The Weight of The Mask’ is about fighting them with everything you’ve got. You can literally hear the depression transform into aggression in these songs. 

Cherry added how the purge of this album has proven especially fulfilling in seeing it to fruition. ‘The Weight of The Mask’ was admittedly a challenging album to make because we cut so deep this time around, it was a painful but ultimately cathartic process. This album is the sound of two years worth of internal darkness boiling away inside and then finally being unleashed.”

En route to the release of The Weight of the Mask, Svalbard is confirmed to perform a succession of live dates in mainland Europe in October. The run will close out with a headlining date at The Key Club in Leeds, UK. Svalbard continues their trek of summer festival plays following memorable sets at Inferno in Norway, Hellfest in France, Full Force in Germany, and 2000Trees in the UK. Their remaining dates are listed below.