Gaupa release lyric video for ‘Lion’s Thorn’

Acclaimed progressive stoner rock powerhouse GAUPA have released a video for their song, ‘Lion’s Thorn’, the blistering opening track of their brand new 4-track mini-album FYR, out now via Nuclear Blast Records (digital) and Magnetic Eye Records (physical).

FYR is the follow-up to the Swede’s highly acclaimed sophomore album MYRIAD, and features some of GAUPA‘s heaviest and most absorbing work to date 

Emma Näslund (vocals) commented:

”In a world full of chaos I hope these songs will bring you dance, hope and lust to resist oppressors.”

Vinyl and CD editions of FYR contain the physical-formats-only track ‘Sömnen / Febersvan (Live at Monkey Moon Studios, 2023)’.

Since the release of their self-titled EP in 2018, Sweden’s GAUPA – which translates as ‘lynx’ in English – have continued to pave new ground within the stoner and psychedelic scene, building their own unique cosmos defined by enchanting lyrical surrealism and mind-altering sound.

In 2020, their debut album Feberdröm pushed them into the international spotlight with its outstanding blend of progressive metal, doom, stoner and folk, steered by the entrancing vocal of frontwoman Emma Näslund. Just one year later, they found their label home at Nuclear Blast Records.

Following the arrival of 2022’s Myriad, with the track ‘Exoskeleton’ reaching over a million streams on Spotify (the EP’s Febersvan now has over 4 million), GAUPA went on to deliver countless unforgettable performances with appearances at festivals including Sweden Rock, Hellfest, Wacken, Mystic and Desertfest, as well as on tours with heavyweights such as Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats, Blood Ceremony and Graveyard.

Now, they’ve reached a turning point in their journey. After former co- guitarist Daniel Nygren left in 2024 to focus on family life, GAUPA found themselves at a standstill, having to relearn how to orchestrate the band without one of its core members. In the summer, they began writing their first full offering in three years, a four-track mini album titled FYR, a play on words with multiple translations meaning “lighthouse”, “to set something on fire” as well as the number “four” in Swedish.

The four-track mini album marks GAUPA’s fourth release, as well as the start of their next chapter as a four-piece band. However, despite their newly slimmed-down line-up, FYR is anything but slight; with the help of new mixing engineer Karl Daniel Lidén, it serves as their heaviest material to date. Recorded in the autumn of 2024 in Svenska Grammofonstudion, Göteborg and Estethuset studios, Falun, FYR is a genre-bending journey through enthralling psychedelia, groove-laden stoner rock and heavy prog metal.

Showcasing more of Näslund’s playfully perplexing and surreal lyricism, FYR loosely explores the concept of time, “what is real, what is not, and what is a dream”, additionally inspired by science fiction novels, nature and animals.

Later this year, Gaupa will continue to cement themselves as live extraordinaires, playing festivals such as Stoomfest in the UK, Krach Am Bach in Germany and Motocultor in France.

GAUPA live in 2025

05.07.   Stoomfest – London, UK
02.08.   Krach Am Bach – Beelen, GER
17.08.   Motocultor – Carhaix-Plouguer, FR

… more dates tba