Cult Of Luna is a Swedish post-metal band from Umea.

[1] They formed from the rem

nants of a Umea hardcore punk band called Eclipse in 1998. They slowly garnered
critical appreciation and underground popularity with early releases Cult of Lun
a (2001) and The Beyond (2003); however, it is 2004's Salvation that can be cons
idered their 'breakthrough' release. This was followed by Somewhere Along the Hi
ghway in 2006, another largely well-received album.
In August 2006, the band released a remake of "Marching to the Heartbeats" from
Somewhere Along the Highway entitled "Heartbeats" solely on the internet communi
ty MySpace. The song was available for download for a few days and was later rem
oved. The point was to see if the song would be kept alive by file sharing, and
was also apparently a statement against the conservative music industry, said ke
yboardist Anders Teglund in an interview.[2]
In 2008 the band released its fifth album, Eternal Kingdom. It was released in E
urope on June 16, followed by its release in the United States on July 8.
In 2009 they released a DVD including a live performance from 2008, an interview
with the band, as well as all of the band's videos.[3]
On October 18, 2009, the band released Eviga riket, a hardback book/audiobook co
vering the story and themes from Eternal Kingdom. The book and audiobook are bil
ingual, printed and spoken both in Swedish and English. The audiobook contains n
ew pieces of music and soundscapes written by the band. Eviga riket was released
the 23 of February 2010.[4]
On October 8, 2012, the band announced the title of their sixth studio album as
Vertikal, as well as the first leg of their upcoming European tour. The release
dates were confirmed as November 5, with the European release on January 25, 201
3, and the American release four days later on January 29, 2013.[5] A companion
EP, Vertikal II was released on September 20, 2013. It includes the three songs
with which Cult of Luna intended to conclude Vertikal as well as a remix of "Vic
arious Redemption" by Justin Broadrick.
On December 17, 2013, the band announced that they'd be taking a break of sorts
for the foreseeable future stating "2013 have been a very active year for us and
neither do we want or think it is good to continue in that pace" they also said
"Sooner or later we will return in one form or another".