Release date: 11th September 2026
I mentioned this in my review of the Ikikaere single, but man, is it good to have Whispered back. Having been a fan of this band since the early 2010s, I have always enjoyed their unique style of ‘samurai metal’ and have never found another band that sounds quite like they do – so when they started to finally tease a return at the tail end of last year, I couldn’t have been more excited. And to say that Honorbound has been worth the wait is somewhat of an understatement.
Standing at eight tracks in duration, Whispered have once again taken the ‘quality over quantity’ approach with Honorbound and every element and idea has clearly been mapped out right down to the most minute detail. Whispered have created an intricate and engaging work of art that will simply take your breath away on every listen.
Opening strong with lead single Ikikaere, this is a song that feels like ‘classic’ Whispered and subsequently is the perfect way to both open the album and announce their return. It then progresses into Heavenbound, which is a very meaty song and perhaps a little more straightforward compared to some of the other tracks, and has a gloriously heavy sound that fleshes out nicely into one of the more intense songs on Honorbound – I particularly like the shredding guitar solo.
One of my personal favourites is fifth track A Warrior’s Dream. It feels like a combination of old and new to an extent; it still has the iconic instrumentation that makes it sound so undeniably Whispered, yet there’s a little bit more melody and experimentation which I really love, trailblazing a new path whilst still paying tribute to their foundations.
As is tradition with a Whispered album, Honorbound closes with a massive epic, this time the album’s title track, and it is their most ambitious to date, clocking in at almost 24 minutes long. Taking their time, they really ensure the scene is set with a soft-yet-epic introduction with some absolutely lush instrumentation, slowly building things up and up into a slow crescendo by adding more and more elements until finally the vocal line begins, which serves as somewhat of a driving force for the whole track, keeping it moving and keeping the momentum going as the band powers on through the peaks and valleys of the song – of which there are a lot of. It serves as a way for the band to show off exactly what they are capable of, extensively painting a detailed and colourful picture of exactly what Whispered is about – and also serves well as a look into the future, highlighting the fact that they are here to stay and are continuing to move forwards.
It has been a long wait for Honorbound. Sometimes I wondered if we would ever get new music at all, and was beginning to think that Whispered was all but dead and buried – but Honorbound shows that good things come to those who wait. An absolutely triumphant return to form for this talented fourpiece.
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