Norway’s VIRUS, led by Carl-Michael Eide (a.k.a. Czral of VED BUENS ENDE and Aggressor of AURA NOIR, DØDHEIMSGARD) and Einar “Esso” Sjursø (BEYOND DAWN), have posted an update regarding their new album and label situation.

“As previously announced on Myspace, VIRUS have parted ways with Season Of Mist and will take care of the release of our third album ourselves. We are just about to start mixing the album and are looking at a late (preferably November) 2010 release.

“However, since we no longer have a label contributing to the studio costs (SOM covered some, but not all, of the studio costs of The Black Flux), we have decided to let you, our fans be ‘a part’ of completing this album.

“As of now, you can pre-order the upcoming album The Agent That Shapes The Desert on vinyl, cd and as a special ‘fan package’ including a cd, a signed and hand numbered LP, a limited EP and a T-shirt. We have not set a release date in stone yet, due to the simple fact that it all depends on economy. The more pre-orders we get, the quicker we will be able to complete and print the album.

“This release will be a co-release between Virulent Music (our own label) and Duplicate Records (Einz’ label) which will help with distribution and promotion. This means we basically do everything ourselves, with only some studio support from a few trust funds. We basically have to cover everything else (additional studio time, mastering, printing and promoting the album) ourselves.

“Thus, we hope as many of you will grab this opportunity to become our ‘benefactors’ so to speak, and order the cd, the vinyl or the special package. More details on the product follows below.

“Trust us, this is the album of our careers. Thanks for your support!”

Pre-order The Agent that Shapes the Desert here: http://www.duplicate-records.com/viruspreorder.htm