German iconic blackened death metal duo, MYSTIC CIRCLE, has announced their “Kriegsgötter MMXXV” compilation album for a release on June 6, 2025 via ROAR! A music video for the first single, a cover version of IRON MAIDEN's “Afraid To Shoot Strangers”, is streaming below. The album pre-sale is also now available at this location: https://mysticcircle.rpm.link/krieg

But let's go back a quarter of a century to the year 2000: MYSTIC CIRCLE were at their peak at the time after the release of their third studio epic “Infernal Satanic Verses” and were rightly regarded as Germany's leading black metal band. In the summer after the turn of the millennium, the Ludwigshafen-based band followed up with the 5-track EP “Kriegsgötter II”, a compilation of cover versions and new recordings. However, the founding line-up also broke up during this phase and A. Blackwar left the band. Only his return in 2020 and the reunion with vocalist Beelzebub conjured up the spirit of that time again, resulting in the two great new records “Mystic Circle” (2022) and “Erzdämon” (2023), closing the infamous circle (or pentagram?) again.

“It was inevitable for me to end my time with MYSTIC CIRCLE with “Kriegsgötter II”. The long break was necessary, we lost the connection to each other back then - which is stronger than ever today,” summarizes A. Blackwar and looks back with a teary eye, but also with a smile, because as so often in life, everything happens for a reason.

Now in 2025, “Kriegsgötter MMXXV” will be released as an extended new edition with 8 tracks featuring furious cover versions of classics such as from BATHORY, CELTIC FROST, POSSESSED or ACHERON, including the completely re-recorded cover of IRON MAIDEN's “Afraid To Shoot Strangers”, premiering today!

“Afraid To Shoot Strangers”, feat. guest vocals from Sarah Jezebel Deva, is now available on all digital streaming services at https://mysticcircle.rpm.link/atss

Watch the new MYSTIC CIRCLE video clip streaming here: https://youtu.be/6pXhTVENbxA

The decision to cover “Afraid To Shoot Strangers” and release it on the new edition brings the band full circle to the past. “At some point back in the 90s, the "A Real Live One" by Iron Maiden was on high rotation in our car CD-player and we got stuck on the song,“ A. Blackwar reveals. “We listened to it over and over again. Then we decided we had to cover it with our keyboards and guitars. It's good that we've done it 25 years later, it wouldn't have been the right time back then. Now the result is exactly how we both imagined our version to be. Also Sarah Jezebel Deva was immediately back on board and her vocals ennoble and complete the track, her vocals are just a gem,” says the founding member, praising the British soprano, who has also made guest appearances with CRADLE OF FILTH, THE KOVENANT and THERION, among others.