AVKRVST reveal sombre video for The Pale Moon – watch it here

(Image credit: Kristian Rangnes)

Norwegian progressive quintet AVKRVST have shared a sombre video for the first single from their upcoming debut album, The Approbation – which will now be released on June 16 via InsideOut. They teased the audio for The Pale Moon in early March 2023, but have now released a clip co-directed, shot and edited by Simen Skari to accompany it. Scroll down to watch it for yourself.

"The video for The Pale Moon is portraying a lonesome soul and his daily chores on a cabin far away from civilisation on his journey towards the end of life," say the band. "All faith and hope is gone and the character is starting to lose his mind. Is he alone? Is there someone else present? Or is it just his mind playing games?"

AVKRVST – comprised of childhood friends Martin Utby (drums/synths) and Simon Bergseth (guitars/bass/vocals), along with Øystein Aadland (bass/keys), Edvard Seim (guitars) and Auver Gaaren (keys) – wrote The Approbation in a forest cabin in Norway, taking musical inspiration from King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Neal Morse and Anekdoten.

The full tracklisting has also been shared, along with the cover created Berlin-based artist and illustrator Eliran Kantor, who's also behind artwork for Testament, Helloween and My Dying Bride.

The Pale Moon is now available on all digital platforms.

The Approbation Tracklisting

1.Østerdalen 0:26
2.The Pale Moon 6:15
3.Isolation 5:41
4.The Great White River 6:30
5.Arcane Clouds 6:05
6.Anodyne 10:15
7.The Approbation 13:37

AVKRVST album cover — (Image credit: Press)

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.