Down have released The Myth, the second song from Volume V. The album is dated 20 November on Nuclear Blast Records.
The number to hold on to is nineteen. Down III: Over the Under came out in 2007, and everything since has been an EP or a tour. Four of the five men who made that record are still here: Phil Anselmo, Kirk Windstein of Crowbar, Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity and Jimmy Bower of Eyehategod, with Pat Bruders on bass.
The Myth is the album opener, which is a choice worth noticing. Blood Oath, the lead single back in August, was the one built to be sung back; putting the first track out second suggests the band want the record heard in order rather than sampled.
One other thing carried in the announcements around the album: Merciful Fate has King Diamond on it. A guest spot like that on a sludge record from New Orleans is not a small booking, and it is the sort of detail that usually gets saved for the week of release rather than given away in autumn.
So the shape of Volume V is now mostly visible. Two songs out, a date, a label, and a line-up that nobody had to rebuild.