Finnish melodic death metal outfit Brymir are back — and they’re trading a bit of their folk metal cloak for a warp-drive. The Helsinki four-piece have announced their fifth studio album, “What We Leave Behind,” due October 2 via Napalm Records, and dropped the sweeping title track as the first single.

If you were expecting more of the same, prepare to have your preconceptions cheerfully obliterated. Singer Viktor Storm Gullichsen (who moonlights as a film sound designer, and it shows), guitarist Joona Björkroth, bassist Jarkko Niemi, and drummer Patrik Fält have crafted what they’re calling their darkest, most cinematic record to date — a genre-bending plea for humanity dressed up in choirs, keys, and the occasional foray into full-on sci-fi aesthetics.

The title track sets the tone perfectly. “What We Leave Behind” pairs high-speed, aggressive verses with a hauntingly catchy, keys-driven chorus, all wrapped around a firmly pacifist message: “Midgard lies in flames… Vanity paves the road to Hel.” The accompanying music video takes the band’s long-simmering sci-fi undercurrents and rockets them straight into outer space.

“There are defining moments in our lives when we need to choose if we keep walking along the same trajectory or take a leap into the unknown,” the band shared. “This is a song about our regrets — may these haunting melodies help you reflect on yours and hopefully show some solace in the beauty of the journey.”

They’re also refreshingly self-aware about the stylistic pivot: “We’re bending and breaking our boundaries and definitely any preconceptions of Brymir as just a ‘folk metal’ band.”

Watch the official music video for “What We Leave Behind” here: https://youtu.be/BbQJHRzEBhw

The 11-track album journeys through Norse mythology, existential dread, orchestral cinema, a Bach-inspired liturgical interlude (“Thy Self The Highest Love”), and — because why not — a melodeath reworking of Scooter’s eurodance staple “How Much Is The Fish.” That last one doubles as a nod to the band’s ongoing environmental streak, following “Herald of Aegir” from 2022’s “Voices In The Sky” (yes, the one that draws salmon plushies at live shows).

“What We Leave Behind” is available to pre-order now in multiple formats, including limited splatter and clear gatefold vinyl, digipack CD, and digital. Brymir will also be hitting the road across Finland this fall on the What We Leave Behind Tour 2026 with special guests Horizon Ignited and Omnivortex, kicking off September 18 in Vantaa and wrapping October 31 in Helsinki, with festival stops at Hellsinki Metal Festival, Summer Breeze, Meh Suff!, and ZRock Winter Fest along the way.

Pre-order the album, mark October 2 on your calendar, and press play on the video above — this is Brymir engaging the warp drives, and you’ll want to be onboard.