'Touchstone' released through Cold Smoke Records on June 16, 2017.

Somewhere in the ocean between brute force and frailty, between relentless dissonance and unconditional harmony lies the island, on whose shores the paths of The Burden Remains and The Horns of the Seventh Seal meet.
Out of the depths rises a monstrosity beyond belief, a Leviathan of distortion, set to unite with the hymnal siren song and the apocalyptic thunder that escapes from the abyss of The Horns of the Seventh Seal. Out of the amalgamation of these elements emerges an amorphous behemoth, radiating steadily in black and gold, the contures disappearing, set to light the world in flame.

On 'Touchstone', two musical worlds blend almost seamlessly: The fourpiece metal band The Burden Remains, and the 42-piece Ad-hoc-orchestra The Horns of the Seventh Seal, led by Manfred Jungo - For two years had been working on a 60-minute conceptual album, until it finally came to the stage in September 2016, for two exclusive and never to be repeated-shows.
Post-Metal-like walls of sound without musical limits amalgamate with intricate horn sections and percussion, to form new depth structures. This foundation also forms the sonic grounds for a lyrical parable involving the mythical king Midas, whose fate is being depicted as an allegory for the touchstone of the modern society - The unquestionable and boundless consumption, the unsatiable greed of an unhibited materialistic world, whose longing for purpose remains unanswered.
This monumental encounter had to be captured in appropriate auditory form: The full work got recorded under Christoph Noths’ supervision, and sonically refined by Raphaël Bovey.