A new force is emerging from Copenhagen’s famously fertile heavy-music scene. EMPATH have announced their self-titled debut album, bringing together musicians from RISING, QAISOR, ANTI RITUAL, KNYTNÆVE and IOTA — with VOLBEAT bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen helping complete a lineup rooted in heavy, progressive and psychedelic rock.
Denmark really does keep producing riffs at an unreasonable rate.
The latest name demanding attention is EMPATH, a Copenhagen-based heavy-rock outfit whose members arrive with plenty of previous experience but are very much looking forward rather than simply trading on the bands printed on their CVs.
Their debut album, simply titled Empath, is scheduled for release on 13 November 2026 through Indisciplinarian and features eight tracks spread across roughly 38 minutes.
And the first taste is already here.
🌌 ‘Lyca’s Lost’ Introduces The EMPATH World
EMPATH have launched the campaign with their first single, “Lyca’s Lost”, a psychedelic heavy-rock track dealing with alienation between generations through imagery involving parallel worlds and different dimensions.
So no gentle introduction, then.
The song provides an early glimpse into a band interested in far more than simply throwing together some vintage guitar tones and calling it retro rock.
There’s heaviness.
Atmosphere.
Melody.
Progressive thinking.
And an obvious fascination with science fiction that extends across the wider album.
Basically, the sort of thing designed to make record collectors nod approvingly while staring at a lava lamp.
🎤 Morten Grønnegaard And Jacob Krogholt Form The Creative Core
At the centre of EMPATH are vocalist Morten Grønnegaard, also associated with QAISOR, and guitarist Jacob Krogholt of ANTI RITUAL.
The pair share history from their time in Danish metal outfit RISING, providing an existing songwriting relationship underneath the new project.
That familiarity can make an enormous difference when launching a new band.
Instead of spending six months working out whether everybody hates each other’s riffs, you can actually get on with writing songs.
Revolutionary concept.
🎸 VOLBEAT’s Kaspar Boye Larsen Handles Bass
Naturally, one name will immediately catch plenty of attention.
Kaspar Boye Larsen, bassist for Danish rock giants VOLBEAT, performs on the record and also has connections to ANTI RITUAL.
He isn’t simply turning up to play a few bass notes and disappear either.
Larsen co-produced Empath alongside the band, making his involvement part of the album’s overall sonic identity.
Considering the size VOLBEAT have reached internationally, Larsen could comfortably remain within that world.
Instead, EMPATH gives him another creative outlet occupying considerably more progressive and psychedelic territory.
That’s immediately interesting.
🥁 Jeppe Munk Aakeson Completes The Album Lineup
Behind the kit is Jeppe Munk Aakeson, whose background includes KNYTNÆVE and IOTA.
Together, the four musicians have created something drawing heavily from rock and metal’s adventurous 1970s and ’80s traditions without attempting to sound like a lost record somebody discovered behind a sofa in 1978.
That’s the important bit.
Influence is useful.
Cosplay isn’t.
🌀 Heavy Rock With Progressive And Psychedelic Roots
Musically, EMPATH draw from heavy, progressive and psychedelic rock and metal, particularly the sounds of the 1970s and 1980s.
But the production has been deliberately kept contemporary and organic.
Then things get stranger.
Synthesizers inspired by old science-fiction soundtracks are woven into the arrangements, helping create a richer and more cinematic atmosphere around the guitars.
Now we’re talking.
Because heavy rock and old sci-fi synths are natural friends.
You simply don’t discover that until somebody plugs both things in at once.
🚀 Science Fiction Is More Than Decoration
The album’s themes go considerably deeper than futuristic artwork and a few synthesizer noises.
Empath examines the nature of humanity, ambition and the consequences of our desires against a background of environmental pressure, inequality, isolation and conflict.
Grønnegaard’s lyrics draw inspiration from science-fiction literature and Romantic-era experimental poetry, including ideas associated with writers and thinkers such as Arthur C. Clarke, William Blake and Thomas De Quincey.
So this isn’t exactly:
“Baby, get in my car, we’re going to the rock ’n’ roll bar.”
There appears to be slightly more going on upstairs.
🧠 Old Ideas Looking Towards Modern Problems
That’s one of the more intriguing aspects of the project.
Science fiction has always been particularly good at pretending to discuss distant futures while actually talking about the present.
Technology.
Power.
Isolation.
Environmental collapse.
Social division.
Human ambition.
We keep imagining futuristic societies only to discover they contain exactly the same people making exactly the same questionable decisions.
EMPATH appear to be leaning directly into that tension.
💿 Empath Tracklist
The debut album contains eight songs:
- New Dawn
- Lyca’s Lost
- Sisters Of Sorrow
- Deceiver
- Childhood’s End
- Solace
- The Tower
- Only The Dead
And yes, science-fiction fans will probably immediately raise an eyebrow at “Childhood’s End.”
Given the album’s acknowledged Arthur C. Clarke inspiration, that’s hardly accidental territory.
🎛️ Brad Boatright Handles The Mastering
The album was produced by Kaspar Boye Larsen and EMPATH, before being mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.
Boatright’s mastering credits include work connected with heavy acts including OBITUARY, DEADGUY and THE ARMED, making him a particularly appropriate choice for something attempting to balance vintage atmosphere with modern weight.
The artwork was created by vocalist Morten Grønnegaard, reinforcing the sense that EMPATH are treating the debut as a complete artistic project rather than simply eight songs gathered together.
🖼️ Music And Visual Identity Go Hand In Hand
That artwork connection makes sense.
When a record is drawing from old science-fiction aesthetics, psychedelic music and experimental literature, the visual world becomes important.
This isn’t the kind of concept that wants a photograph of four blokes leaning against a brick wall.
You want atmosphere.
Mystery.
Something that feels like an artefact from another dimension.
Preferably one containing riffs.
🎵 A 38-Minute Album Sounds Refreshingly Focused
Eight songs.
Around 38 minutes.
Beautiful.
In an age where artists can technically release unlimited music without worrying about the physical limits of vinyl or CD, restraint is sometimes underrated.
A focused record that leaves you wanting another spin is infinitely preferable to an 82-minute album where track 14 sounds like everyone forgot to go home.
EMPATH appear to have built the debut around a deliberate musical narrative rather than attempting to fill every available second.
💿 The Vinyl Will Be Extremely Limited
Collectors should probably move quickly.
Empath is being pressed in two vinyl variants:
100 transparent-blue copies
and
100 black copies.
Only 200 vinyl copies in total.
Which means by the time everybody discovers the band six months later and starts asking where to buy one, Discogs could become an emotionally difficult place.
The album will also be available digitally.
🎤 EMPATH’s First Live Show Is Already Booked
The band will make their live debut on 11 December 2026 at A Colossal Kind Of X-mas at Hotel Cecil in Copenhagen, appearing alongside other Danish heavy acts.
That means listeners won’t have to wait long after the album arrives to find out how this material translates to the stage.
And with music described as heavy, atmospheric and psychedelic?
There is plenty of potential for the live presentation to become something properly immersive.
🇩🇰 Denmark’s Heavy-Music Conveyor Belt Continues
Denmark has an extraordinary musical history for a relatively small country.
From Mercyful Fate and King Diamond through to Volbeat, plus countless names throughout doom, death metal, hardcore and progressive music, the Danish scene consistently produces bands with strong individual identities.
EMPATH now arrive from that ecosystem carrying influences from previous generations while deliberately exploring their own corner of heavy music.
And that’s exactly how scenes stay alive.
Not by continually recreating their greatest old records.
By giving experienced musicians somewhere new to go.
🎸 Kaspar Boye Larsen’s Presence Will Open Doors — But The Songs Have To Do The Work
There’s no pretending the VOLBEAT connection won’t attract attention.
Of course it will.
Having a member of one of Denmark’s biggest international rock exports involved means plenty of people who might otherwise have missed EMPATH will give them a listen.
That’s useful.
But after somebody presses play?
None of that matters.
The song has to work.
And “Lyca’s Lost” now provides the first opportunity for EMPATH to establish an identity independent of every other band mentioned in their biography.
That’s where the real story begins.
🔥 This Doesn’t Sound Like A Casual Side Project
Everything about the debut suggests genuine intent.
Eight songs.
A conceptual lyrical framework.
Original artwork.
Dedicated production.
Limited vinyl.
A first live performance already confirmed.
This feels considerably more substantial than four musicians messing around whenever their main schedules happen to line up.
EMPATH have built an actual album.
Now they get to find out where it takes them.
🤘 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
The presence of VOLBEAT bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen might be the name that initially pulls people towards EMPATH, but the band’s wider concept makes the project considerably more interesting than a celebrity side venture.
This is a group drawing from 1970s and ’80s heavy rock, progressive music, psychedelia and vintage science-fiction soundtracks, while using those influences to explore thoroughly modern anxieties.
And with members bringing experience from RISING, QAISOR, ANTI RITUAL, KNYTNÆVE, IOTA and VOLBEAT, there’s no shortage of musical experience behind it.
First single “Lyca’s Lost” opens the door.
Eight-track debut Empath follows on 13 November 2026.
Then the band finally hits a stage in Copenhagen in December.
So yes…
Denmark has produced another heavy band we need to keep an eye on.
Because apparently they weren’t already giving us enough.
EMPATH are here — and they’re bringing big riffs, strange dimensions and old-school sci-fi synths with them. 🇩🇰🌌🔥🤘
