Elvenking, Italy’s masters of pagan/folk metal, will release a special collection of tracks titled “Rites Of Disclosure” on May 22, 2026, via Reaper Entertainment.
The band calls the release an EP, and it’ll gather songs that were written during the “Reader of the Runes” trilogy sessions but never made it onto the albums, freshly recorded versions of older tracks Blizzards of Anger and Rite of Passage, plus covers of Iron Maiden, King Diamond, Venom, Skyclad, Bathory and Children of Bodom. Elvenking say this gives the “Reader of the Runes” trilogy its proper closing chapter, a kind of epilogue, and that the circle is now complete.
The EP’s first single, for the previously unreleased track The Past Is Forever, comes with a video and is out now, so you can stream/listen to it now. Check it out below.
The EP’s cover art comes from Julian Bauer.
EP tracklist (digital version):
1. Blizzards Of Anger
2. Rite Of Passage
3. The Past is Forever
4. Arrival (orig. King Diamond)
5. Children of Decadence (orig. Children of Bodom)
6. Man of Iron (orig. Bathory)
7. Salt On The Earth (Another Man’s Poison) (orig. Skyclad)
EP tracklist (CD and vinyl formats):
1. Blizzards Of Anger
2. Rite Of Passage
3. The Past is Forever
4. The Moon and Magic
5. Ethel
6. Arrival (orig. King Diamond)
7. No prayer for the Dying (orig. Iron Maiden)
8. Children of Decadence (orig. Children of Bodom)
9. Man of Iron (orig. Bathory)
10. Salt On The Earth (Another Man’s Poison) (orig. Skyclad)
11. Prime Evil (orig. Venom)
