Prequelle

It was released on 1 June 2018 on Loma Vista Recordings and produced by Tom Dalgety, recorded across 2017 and 2018 at Artery Studios in Stockholm, Psalm Studio in Bath and Westlake Studios in Los Angeles. The subject is the Black Death and the Middle Ages. Ten tracks and 41 minutes 43 seconds, with the instrumentals "Miasma" and "Helvetesfönster" set inside them. "Rats" led the record out on 13 April and held number one on the American Mainstream Rock Songs chart for seven weeks; "Dance Macabre" then topped the same chart for two. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number three and topped that magazine's Top Rock Albums chart, and it reached number one in Sweden, Norway and Finland. At the 61st Grammy Awards Prequelle was nominated for Best Rock Album and "Rats" for Best Rock Song, and in June 2019 Kerrang! gave it their Best Album award. The sleeve was issued in five versions, each placing the rider and horse differently.