Volbeat announce new album Servant of the Mind, share destructive new single, Shotgun Blues

Danish rockers Volbeat have announced their eighth studio album, Servant of the Mind, and shared a vintage-Volbeat-style single, Shotgun Blues.

Arriving December 3 via EMI Records, the new outing follows 2019’s Rewind, Replay, Rebound, and will feature singles Wait A Minute My Girl and Dagen Før, both released in June.

As the band’s previous LP dabbled largely in melodic material than heavy, Shotgun Blues will undoubtedly be welcomed by Volbeat purists, as it is driven by the same style of pummeling riffs as heard in their earlier albums, like 2007’s Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil and 2008’s Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood, and includes some fiery lead work from guitarist Rob Caggiano.

Thematically, the track explores frontman Michael Poulsen’s ghostly experiences when he recently moved into a new home.

“Every time you move into a house, you bring dead people with you,” he says. “Weird stuff happens when I move into a [new] house… it's very otherworldly."

Other concepts explored throughout the album will include the devil taking human form (The Devil Rages On), and the first witch burnings to occur in Sweden in 1471 (Lasse's Birgitta).

As Poulsen explains, he wrote the entire album in three months. “I was in a good place and mood while at home, and had a captive audience of myself,” he says.

“There are a lot of Volbeat signatures in it. If you go back to the first record and compare it to where we are now,” he continues, “you can hear how the band has developed its style, while keeping the signature sound.”

Servant of the Mind is available to preorder now. Check out its tracklisting below.

1. Temple of Ekur
2. Wait A Minute My Girl
3. The Sacred Stones
4. Shotgun Blues
5. The Devil Rages On
6. Say No More
7. Heaven’s Descent
8. Dagen Før (feat. Stine Bramsen)
9. The Passenger
10. Step Into Light
11. Becoming
12. Mindlock
13. Lasse’s Birgitta