Mystic Circle Take On Iron Maiden's 'Afraid To Shoot Strangers'

04-02-2025

(AN) German iconic blackened death metal duo, Mystic Circle, has announced their "Kriegsgotter MMXXV" compilation album for a release on June 6, 2025 via ROAR! A music video for the first single, a cover version of IRON MAIDEN's "Afraid To Shoot Strangers", is streaming now.

But let's go back a quarter of a century to the year 2000: Mystic Circle were at their peak at the time after the release of their third studio epic "Infernal Satanic Verses" and were rightly regarded as Germany's leading black metal band. In the summer after the turn of the millennium, the Ludwigshafen-based band followed up with the 5-track EP "Kriegsgotter II", a compilation of cover versions and new recordings. However, the founding line-up also broke up during this phase and A. Blackwar left the band. Only his return in 2020 and the reunion with vocalist Beelzebub conjured up the spirit of that time again, resulting in the two great new records "Mystic Circle" (2022) and "Erzdamon" (2023), closing the infamous circle (or pentagram?) again.

"It was inevitable for me to end my time with MYSTIC CIRCLE with "Kriegsgotter II". The long break was necessary, we lost the connection to each other back then - which is stronger than ever today," summarizes A. Blackwar and looks back with a teary eye, but also with a smile, because as so often in life, everything happens for a reason.

Now in 2025, "Kriegsgotter MMXXV" will be released as an extended new edition with 8 tracks featuring furious cover versions of classics such as from BATHORY, CELTIC FROST, POSSESSED or ACHERON, including the completely re-recorded cover of IRON MAIDEN's "Afraid To Shoot Strangers", premiering today!