Symphonic extreme metal ensemble Lamentari releases video for ‘Oculi Lapidis’

Danish symphonic extreme metal ensemble LAMENTARI has announced their long-awaited new album, ‘ANTE AURORAM’ for release on November 13th 2026 and also shared the album’s final single ‘OCULI LAPIDIS’. Today, LAMENTARI releases an epic video for the song, created by the band’s vocalist Daniel Lønberg, who is the mastermind behind the band’s visual side.

Lønberg elaborates about the song’s theme and the video:

“‘OCULI LAPIDIS’ started with the idea of hatred continuing beyond death.

The story follows a man buried with stones placed upon his eyes, meant to grant him sight in the afterlife. Someone who despised him enters the grave and steals them, taking away his ability to see and condemning him to wander blindly after death. There was something deeply cruel about the idea that even dying wouldn’t be enough to escape another person’s hatred.

From there, the song became about what happens when suffering is deliberately carried across that final boundary, and a punishment intended to outlive both the body and the life it belonged to.

For the music video, we envisioned a place suspended between the worlds of the living and the dead. An endless aether, shrouded in flowing veils and illuminated by cold, ethereal light.

Here, LAMENTARI performs within the realm the departed must cross, a place where the boundaries of existence dissolve, and where the soul must face whatever awaits beyond the final breath.”

He continues on the theme of record:

“‘ANTE AURORAM’ means ‘before dawn’ and explores what we carry with us from one life into the next,” continues Lønberg. “With each life, the soul carries something forward, helping to shape the next. It is the feeling of standing before dawn, knowing that something profound has already happened in the darkness.”

With ‘ANTE AURORAM’, the band continues its exploration of the meeting point between extreme metal and classical music. The new second album and in all fourth opus in the band’s symphonic canon builds on the sound LAMENTARI has established through its previous releases, while simultaneously pushing it into new territory.

The fourth grand opus in the band’s symphonic canon, ‘ANTE AURORAM’ cements LAMENTARI as torchbearers of Danish symphonic metal. Virtuosic apocalyptic music for the theatrically minded, the album finds the band pushing their sound into new extremes.

‘ANTE AURORAM’ was mixed and mastered by longtime collaborator Stefano Morabito (Fleshgod Apocalypse) who previously mixed LAMENTARI’s ‘Clavis Aurea’ and ‘Nihilitatis’. With ‘ANTE AURORAM’, the collaboration enters its third act. Choral passages were recorded with a live choir in London, conducted under the leadership of Aaron King, capturing the solemnity of a true choral mass.

LAMENTARI – Ante Auroram

Album artwork by Daniel Lønberg

Track list:
1. ANTE AURORAM
2. OCULI LAPIDIS
3. GRADUS DEI
4. VENIA
5. EX FAVILLA
6. AUDIENTIA DIVINA

LAMENTARI have earned a reputation for extraordinary live performances, including appearances at Wacken Metal Battle, Inferno Metal Festival and COPENHELL, where they performed with a live choir and conductor. Their 2022 Wacken Metal Battle campaign saw them finish third, while their COPENHELL performance earned them the “New Hope Live” award at Den Hårde Tone.

The album’s release will be marked by a special concert at Pumpehuset in Copenhagen, where LAMENTARI will bring the full scope of ‘ANTE AURORAM’ to the stage, joined by acclaimed cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne, known for his work with Leprous from Norway. Tickets for this unique event can be obtained HERE.

Line-up:
Vocals: Daniel Lønberg
Guitars (Lead/Synth): Emil Holst Partsch
Guitars (Rhythm): Michael Møller
Bass: Kristoffer Tønder Koudahl
Drums: Christopher Peetz-Schou Vissing
Keys/Synths/Orchestration: Max Uldahl