RökFlöte is due Apr 21st

Jethro Tull has announced that its 23rd studio album, RökFlöte, will be released on April 21st via InsideOutMusic. Following 2022’s The Zealot Gene, the band’s first album in two decades, Ian Anderson and the band are returning with a 12-track record based on the characters and roles of some of the principle gods of the old Norse paganism, and at the same time exploring the RökFlöte — rock flute — which Jethro Tull has made iconic.

The announcement also sees the launch of the album’s first single, “Ginnungagap,” and accompanied lyric video created by Costin Chioreanu. The track takes inspiration from the god Ymir, the proto-being, a primeval being, who was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar and lived in the grassless void ​of Ginnungagap.

RökFlöte will be available on several different formats, including two limited deluxe formats that include bonus demo material, extensive liner notes and a Blu-ray featuring Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound, alternative stereo mixes by Bruce Soord, as well as a bonus track and in-depth interview with Anderson. The album will also be available digitally in the spatial audio formats Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 RA.

“The title of this offering went through a little change or two along the way. I started with the idea of a predominantly instrumental album for rock flute – as in rock music,” Anderson explains. “When the subject material of the album presented itself, I was drawn to the term Ragnarök from Norse mythology – their version of apocalyptic end times or Biblical Armageddon. The ‘final showdown’ scenario is ubiquitous and inherent in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, for example. Ragnarök translates as ‘destiny of the Gods,’ the rök part meaning destiny, course, direction. With umlaut firmly in place, courtesy of the Germanic origins of Old Norse, Flute became Flöte in keeping with the spelling. With me so far? I just can’t miss the glorious opportunity for a good and legitimate umlaut.”

Jethro Tull continue live dates this year, with shows in mainland Europe.

1. Voluspo
2. Ginnungagap
3. Allfather
4. The Feathered Consort
5. Hammer On Hammer
6. Wolf Unchained
7. The Perfect One
8. Trickster (And The Mistletoe)
9. Cornucopia
10. The Navigators
11. Guardian’s Watch
12. Ithavoll