Bolle, Norway — Maria Franz tells the 17 members of her folk metal band Heilung, who recently gathered around a campfire here, “Serving vegan potato salad in a medium-sized cauldron. ” announced. The band was celebrating the release of her third album, ‘Drif’. Midgardsblot is a festival held in a Viking burial ground that also hosts seminars on Viking culture for a camper audience. cloak. Earlier in the day, festival-goers joined the band and listened to the new album while sitting on the floor of her hall in a replica Vikings Feast, fitted with a speaker system.
It was the perfect setting for Heilung, who has put a heavy metal twist on pre-Christian European music in his work over the last eight years. Working with a team of researchers and playing on replica instruments from the period, his Heilung produces music that its members describe as “amplified history.” Heilung took lyrics from historical texts, such as runic inscriptions from archaeological finds, and used sources that would have been available in early European civilizations, such as a combination of stone, bone, and rough metal objects. I’m using.
“Drif,” for example, combines throat singing, spoken word, chanting, battle sounds, and field recordings from nature. His one of Heilung’s songs, “Hakkerskaldyr,” was recently used in the trailer for his Robert Eggers movie, “The Northman.” This is another artistic imagination of ancient Scandinavia.
“We don’t claim to do exactly what our ancestors did, because no one knows,” says Franz. “But that’s our interpretation of how it felt.”
Heilung has three core members, Franz, Christopher Juul, and Kai Uwe Faust, and is supported by a host of performers on stage, including actors dressed as Viking warriors, backing singers, and drummers.
Franz said the band’s project won’t just focus on the Viking age. For example, the last track of the new album, “Marduk”, is a recital of the 50 names of the supreme gods of Mesopotamia. Franz sometimes plays primitive instruments brought back from India. If you look back enough on history, Juul said, you’ll find that most cultures share similar instruments and similar myths.
There are other bands in the folk metal subgenre that draw on their pre-Christian history, such as Norwegian group Wardruna. But Heilung stands out for the depth of his historical involvement and the scale of his performances live. His released debut album, Ofnir, was well received in folk metal circles, but it wasn’t until the band’s first live show in 2017 that Heilung became popular with the broader metal scene. was.
Jonathan Seltzer, a music journalist for Metal Hammer magazine, said, “It was a phenomenon. He recalled seeing the band at Midgardsblot in 2017 when they played their penultimate slot. They were on set.” The performance incorporated elaborate costumes, including antlers, animal furs, battle chants, and half-naked actors darting across the stage dressed as warriors.This performance has been the blue color of all Heilung’s stage shows since then. “I could see this perception go from incomprehensible to mysterious through the crowd in real time,” Seltzer said. “The whole field turned into a Viking rave.”
Michael Berberian, who signed Heilung after a show on his metal label Season of Mist, said it was “a band that came out of nowhere with a complete concept.” He added, “The visuals, the costumes, the unique music, the production values were all there and we were completely ready.”
Franz, Faust and Jules first meet in a Viking reenactment scene. In this scene, enthusiasts gather to dress up as Vikings, learn about their history, and practice traditions like sword fighting and cooking over an open fire. According to Midgardsblot founder Runa Strindin, the popularity of Viking reenactments has exploded in northern Europe over the past five years, with TV shows like “Vikings” and movies like “The Norseman.” The inclusion of Norse gods was spurred on. Marvel movies.
“People are looking for identities that give them access to something that modern life lacks,” says Strindin. Whatever suits you, it will be there. ”
Norse mythology also resonates with some far-right groups who see it as an endorsement of their ideology, but members of Heilung strongly reject that worldview. Nationalists have adopted the visual language of ancient runes to suggest an imaginary pre-modern era of racial purity.
The link between Norse runes and white supremacy is still strong. Norwegian extremist Anders Behring Breivik marked the weapon He used runes in the 2011 massacre, and the perpetrators of the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand mosque terrorist attack were Sonnenrads (Nazis to embody an ideal vision of Aryan identity). decorated with runes). in his backpack.
Music journalist Seltzer said that outside the metal scene, many people are wary of bands in the folk metal subgenre.
Reclaiming Viking culture, especially runes, from neo-Nazis was a central part of Heilung’s mission, Strindin said. Each of the band’s live shows begins with a poetry reading that highlights the humanity shared by the audience. “Remember we are all brothers, we are all men, we are beasts, we are trees, we are stones, we are all winds,” says the verse.
Strindin said when she grew up in Norway in the 1990s, she was discouraged by her teachers and parents from taking an interest in runes because of its far-right ties. Heilung “helped take those symbols back and give them new meanings,” she said.
“We look at music as a cup,” said Faust. “You can have a beautiful cup, but a cup is supposed to carry something. What is my intention with these songs?”
The album audition in the replica Viking Hall had a church-like quiet and polite atmosphere. People listened with their eyes closed, or read the descriptive note booklets provided by the band that accompanied each track.
The next day, Heilung played the festival’s headline slot in front of a huge crowd of fans from all over the world. Lynsey Epperson, 32, from Tucson, Arizona, who left the United States for the first time, said the band’s music was “familiar, even though I wasn’t from that era.” Added. to my house.
The crowd fell silent as the show began. The performers wafted incense over the audience while the rest of the band recited the opening verse in a circle. .