Hartlight have released The Golden Egg, the first piece from Iosis, an album they have pencilled in for 2027. Neither the date nor the label is fixed yet, which is unusually early to start showing songs.
Noa Gruman sings on it alongside the band, the kind of guest appearance symphonic power metal treats as a structural element rather than a favour.
The name is a clue to the plan. Iosis is the reddening, the last of the colour stages in alchemy, the point at which the work is supposed to be finished, and The Golden Egg belongs to the same set of images. A band that titles its record after a stage in the magnum opus is announcing a concept before announcing a release date.
Hartlight formed in 2019 and are split between Lausanne and Avignon, which makes them international in the literal sense rather than the promotional one. Their first full length, The Triumph of Metal, came out in 2025 on Kvlt und Kaos Productions after a run of singles.
Fifteen releases in six years is a lot of output for a band this size.