[Cover photo credit to © Violetta Ellisdottir]

The ritual collective Heilung is entering LAVA Studios this month to begin recording their fourth full-length studio album. But right now, Heilung has shared the first single from Sagas, a collection of recordings that core members Kai Uwe Faust, Maria Franz and Christopher Juul created in collaboration with Ninja Theory for the award-winning video game Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga.

Unreleased until now, “Læknisgaldr” is a song that “heals afflictions of the mind, body and soul through the simple act of ritual repetition.

Heilung says:

‘Læknisgaldr’ is the first song we are sharing from our in-between albums release Sagas, which collects sounds from the time we traveled to the land of Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga. We see Sagas as its own branch within Heilung’s musical universe. These recordings show a  cinematic, immersive and environmental side of what we do and were shaped very specifically by our work with Ninja Theory and the world of Hellblade.

The first sound you hear on ‘Læknisgaldr’ was not made by anything from our reality. During the recording process, somehow, while playing with real human bones and breath, we managed to capture a ghost in the studio! The video tells the second part of a greater story about trauma. Like Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga, it deals with what causes trauma to our minds and, most importantly, how to heal it.  

Sagas comes out December 11, 2026 on Season of Mist. The deluxe CD and vinyl editions of Sagas include Ambient, which features eight additional soundscapes that Heilung recorded to draw listeners even deeper into the world of Hellblade II: Senua’s Saga.