Madison, Wisconsin-based, female-fronted quintet LUNA MORTIS (formerly known as THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE) has announced plans to reunite for festival appearances and the release of new music, tentatively due in late spring/early summer. The band states: "Details are still forthcoming, and all five members from [LUNA MORTIS' debut album] 'The Absence' are discussing the possibilities."

In 2009, LUNA MORTIS was dropped by Century Media Records, the label that released "The Absence". The CD, which came out in in February 2009, was tracked at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (ALL THAT REMAINS, TRIVIUM).

LUNA MORTIS's "Forever More" video can be viewed below. The clip was directed by David Brodsky, who has previously worked with ALL THAT REMAINS, BLEEDING THROUGH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and KITTIE, among many others.

In a 2009 interview, LUNA MORTIS singer Mary Zimmer stated about the progression of the band's sound: "The older stuff is more New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, IRON MAIDEN-ish kind of stuff. You can hear our metal roots in that. It's also a little more proggy. As we've progressed, the music has gotten darker and heavier with more elements of death metal coming in. We're all happy with that evolution."

Asked which is easier for her, the singing or the screaming, Zimmer said: "The screaming is so easy. If that was my only job and didn't have to do any singing, I'd be hooked up. I don't want to say that it's easy for everybody that does it, but for me personally it's way easier than singing. The singing is much harder."