Blueneck stream King Nine in full

Blueneck have launched a stream of fifth album King Nine ahead of next week’s release.

The sleeve art was created by renowned artist Lasse Hoile following an unexpectedly emotional trip through America’s deep south, after singer Duncan Attwood shared his passion for TV series True Detective.

Attwood tells Prog: “After working with Lasse on the video for our track Sirens, we kept in regular contact, sharing a love of films, TV, music, art – and perhaps one or two other unmentionable items.

“It became apparent to me that Lasse was the only option for King Nine. I was sharing early versions of the tracks with him and he totally understood how to marry the audio with the visual He had a trip to the USA planned with fiancee Cassandra, and they agreed to alter their plans and embark on a road trip, which would ultimately become the King Nine photo shoot.

“Cassandra acted as Lasse’s shooting assistant, driving, suggesting locations and perhaps even keeping them both alive at times!”

Her document of the expedition, along with the resulting images as used in the King Nine artwork, reveal how closely the images became entwined with the music – and how it couldn’t have happened without the challenges of the journey.

The album is released on Monday (November 10) via Denovali and can be pre-ordered now.

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.