Tag Archives: Folk Music

Wardruna – Runaljod Gap Var Ginnunga

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Since his departure from Gorgoroth, Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik set about creating a project steeped in the heritage of Nordic spiritualism which swept away any preconceptions the scene may have had when this release reared its head back in 2009. The initial chapter in a trilogy of albums based on ancient the Elder Futhark; the oldest form of runic alphabet popularised by northern European tribes, Runaljod Gap Var Ginnunga (Indie) is a compdlling journey throughout its fifty two minute duration.

That an album which features no distorted guitar, drums or modern instrumentation of any kind could capture the imagination of so many metal fans seems curious on the surface, but the nocturnal nature of compositions such as ‘Thurs’, with its mouth harp and homemade percussion delicately embellished with gorgeous hardanger fiddle, creates an experience which transcends genre. The ethereal vocals of Linda Fay Hella are breath-taking, yet over-shadowed by the sinister shaman that is Kvitrafn’s former Gorgoroth colleague Gaahl, whose trance inducing chanting lures the lister into the primordial depths of pre-Christian Norway.

The most apparent aspect of Runaljod… is how authentic it is. Much of this can be attributed to the use of real recordings of wind and other atmospheric effects which Einar himself acquired, rather than relying on synths. Acts like Finland’s Nest may have a similar approach but this work has more in common with the dark ambient genre.

Able to shift mood from menacing to enchantingly beautiful, the album has many stand out moments but is most rewarding when experienced in a single sitting and its strength lies in retaining a uniquely Norse atmosphere throughout which allows these unique compositions to really stand out.  The instrumentation here shows a remarkable sense of commitment to recreating the sounds of the early Norse tribes and throat singing, goat skull percussion instruments and all manner of curious items are employed here to great effect. Witness the foreboding ‘Thurs’, for proof.

A majestic journey into bygone times, Runaljod… is a stunning piece of work. This vinyl re-issue should only serve to whet the appetite of fans awaiting the forthcoming third chapter of this epic trilogy.

 

9.0/10

Wardruna on Facebook

 

ROSS BAKER

 


Viathyn – Cynosure

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I think it says something about me that the phrase “Progressive Power Metal” ranks considerably higher up the list of music I’m interested in than “mates band” does – though let’s face it, mates bands are usually shit. I’m not quite sure what it is that it says (other than “shit taste, nobber”), but it’s always with enthusiasm that the triangle of play is hit on an album of that ilk. It also says something about Progressive Power Metal that it is quite possibly the uncoolest of uncool subgenres to date. So uncool it hasn’t even become cool through its uncoolness.

If you consider that insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results (Wikipedia can’t make its’ mind up if Einstein or Franklin should be attributed the source quote – it was probably neither) then the white coat is being sized up for me right about now, because by now that wave of enthusiasm should really be a cynical mistrust. Because it’s rare. Rarer than a 20 year old buxom beauty queen genuinely loving a rich octogenarian with a dodgy ticker that the potential and promise of Progressive Power Metal actually delivers.

There are two traps Progressive Power Metal bands fall into – being overly prog but without fully understanding the dynamics and nuances of the genre and end up boringly noodling with some helium-vocalled loon in a flowered shirt thinking he’s the reincarnation of Michael Kiske. Alberta, Canada’s Viathyn avoid that trap with consummate ease. Phew. But don’t wipe that brow just yet, because, no, they dive headfirst into the other trap… That they’re actually a Power Metal-lite band who love a bit of twee, and the prog bit is a misnomer. Have they never seen Spinal Tap? Those “folky” bits…? Stonehenge more like it.

With one metallic bear-trap having wrenched their first leg off, they’re soon left without a leg to stand on, as the jaws of trap two snap down thigh high (obviously catching the nadgers too, cos this is fucking testicle-less) as there is very little that’s vaguely memorable. Part of it is because Tomislav Crncovik is a vocalist as unremarkable and indistinct as the music he writes, but in the main because the album is a loop of double bass drums and inane leads  interspersed with underwhelming vocals and less dynamic movement than a dead fish. Though ‘Countess of Discordia’ and ‘Three Sheets To The Wind’ at least have choruses that differentiate from the verses.

Look, Viathyn can clearly play blah blah blah… Who cares? Their album is boring and uneventful. And I like this sort of stuff. Get A Sound Of Thunder‘s latest instead. Also, if you’re self-releasing an album through Bandcamp at least put some fucking band/album details on there, will you?

 

4.0/10

Viathyn on Facebook

 

STEVE TOVEY


Fräkmündt – Landlieder and Frömdländler

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If the prospect of ‘Ur-Folk’, a musical reinterpretation of old Swiss folk songs and the occasional original number consisting of elements of traditional Volksmusik as well as folk music from other regions fills you with a deep sense of horror then drop that cowbell and head for the hills before it’s too late. For when members of Eluveitie fancy some down time, they contribute to Fräkmündt, the main adherents of the above genre, although no active member is present on Landlieder & Frömdländler (Auerbach/Prophecy) and hasn’t been involved in the band for over a year. This is a good thing, for there is very little here to recommend to metal fans or indeed, anyone with a sense of taste.

Call me a philistine but listening to Landlieder & Frömdländler is an experience akin to being trapped on holiday somewhere in the Swiss Alps by the local peasants who insist on playing their local tunes no matter how often you politely decline another sing-a-long around the campfire. All the necessary instruments are present and correct, with the guitars, accordion and of course, hurdy-gurdy conspiring to make you stare at the ground, grit your teeth and pray for it to be over soon. The tone ranges from the mildly upbeat jigs of ‘PfaffechaIleri’ and ‘Fontannegsecht’ to the grim po-faced dirges of ‘Luegid vo Barg ond Tal’ and ‘Simelibarg’ which are as interminable as the stench in an alpine cow shed. But we haven’t even got on to the utterly appalling ‘Klaryda’ and ‘Wieso semmer eso?’ which evokes images of The Wurzels in lederhosen. Nuff said.

No doubt some would accuse me of ‘not getting it’ but sometimes absolutes apply and this is one of them, for it’s hard to imagine anyone other than a select few, perhaps those who subscribe to National Geographic and still buy Steeleye Span records, having any tolerance or interest in this album. Recent releases by the likes of Wardruna have shown how ancient music should be re-interpreted for the modern age and while it sounds like Fräkmündt are deadly serious and passionate about what they’re doing, it’s best to just quietly put up with them in the hope that soon it’ll all be over.

3.5/10

Fräkmündt on Facebook

 

JAMES CONWAY


Various Artists – One and All, Together, For Home

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In answering the question “What types of music do you like?” one suspects that one is not alone in having answered, from time to time, thus: “ I like two types of music: “heavy” and “metal””. Nurse! Nurse! My sides, they are splitting.  For all its supposed open-mindedness and sense of camaraderie, the world of heavy metal can be something of a closed shop with an equally closed mind. It can be a bit of a sense of; you’re either “with us or agin us”. This is fine and understandable to a point but it also can lead to a lack of imagination, a narrow mindedness of view and a dearth of creativity.

I was thinking about this odd paradox when reviewing this beautifully composed and arranged compilation album from the lovely folk at Seasons of Mist. One and All, Together, For Home is a compilation of folk tunes, brilliantly and expertly curated by Roman Saenko of Ukranian black/pagan metal outfit Drukdh and delivered with insight, passion and inventiveness from some of the more interesting bands around at the moment – Primordial, Winterfylleth, Kampfar, Himinbjorg to name but a few.

One and All… is one of those records that has so self-evidently been put together with love and insight, head and heart that one cannot fail but to be utterly captivated and enthralled by the resulting product. Saenko’s aim with this project has been to take a piece of historical folk music from the country of each of the bands represented here and to see what interpretation they would bring and, more, how the folk music of their heritage and hinterland had shaped and influenced their own creative and artistic impulses. The results are surprising, inventive and never anything less than beguiling.

Let’s take Ireland’s Primordial and the UK’s Winterfylleth as two examples of what I am referring to. Primordial’s connection to with Ireland – in the musical and metaphysical senses of the word – has never been in doubt. Here, that connection is amplified and deepened through their contributions; a brooding, contemplative ‘Dark Horse on the Wind’ and a startling rework of ‘The Foggy Dew’, the classic Irish lament, rich in alienation and discord is perfect for vocalist Alan Averill who brings a solemnity and melancholy that is both apposite and baleful.

There’s always been an intelligence and sense of history running through Winterfylleth’s work and their interpretation of ‘John Barleycorn’ only serves to underscore this. Ostensibly a song about drinking, Barleycorn is part of a much deeper English tradition that drives back to medieval times and is part of a broader pastoral heritage examining man’s changing yet enduring relationship with the land. If this is not the sort of thing you would expect to read about when reading a review of a standard heavy metal record, then you would be correct because this is not a standard heavy metal record.

Elsewhere on this exemplary compilation, we travel through Norwegian forests – literal and of the imagination – courtesy of Kampfar, swirl through the historical imagination of Finnish black metal stalwarts Haive, burn across the Gallic countryside and have evocations of Portugese fantasy courtesy of Himinbjorg and Ave Inferi respectively.

There are two aspects of One for All… that linger. First, despite the diversity of the artists involved, geographically and artistically, this is a cohesive body of work underpinned by the traditional folk architecture. Second, you get a very real sense of how heavy metal artists form part of a broader and much richer musical narrative that reaches back much further and deeper than the now familiar story of heavy metal’s genesis in late 1960’s England would seem to suggest.

More, One for All… places folk and metal as unlikely but compelling bedfellows, giving voice and presence to the lonely, the outsider and the dispossessed. When seen in that context, this compilation not only makes complete sense but feels curiously overdue.

 

8.5/10

Season of Mist on Facebook 

 

MAT DAVIES


Return To Yggdrasil – An Interview With Wardruna

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Wardruna, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

A student of the Runes and a self-confessed “history nerd”, Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik has brought the ancient Norse sounds of Wardruna to life in modern times. Ghost Cult scribe Ross Baker caught up with him to discuss strange instruments, history and where Selvik’s maverick vision will take him next.

Wardruna uses so many unusual instruments to make music from deer-hide frame drums, bone flute, goat and cow horns and Hardanger fiddle to name a few. How did you gather such instruments?

Many of these instruments were made for me by specialists but some I collected from places. It was very difficult to find as not many people make or know how to play them either so I had to teach myself. I am a self-taught drummer and guitarist but things like the bone flute were very different. It was important for me to have all these instruments so the music has the correct feel. It took me seven years to write and record the first album and a lot of that was because each composition relates to a rune and each Rune demands something different.Instruments, sounds and seasons and even specific dates all represent the symbolic power of the Runes we are trying to express the meaning of. When we recorded for the rune that relates to water, we needed to be outside by a river. It is a very time-consuming process recording this band because the conditions have to be just right.

 

You described Gap Var Ginnunga as “sowing a seed” and Yggdrasil is the tree the Norse Gods meet at. Ragnarok will be the last album of this “Rune trilogy”. Will that be the end of Wardruna’s involvement with the Runes?

Wardruna will always be connected to the Runes in some way. A lot of people misinterpret Ragnarok as what the Christians called Armageddon but it is not that at all. Ragnarok is the great transformation, the end of something and the beginning of something new. The album will signal a change in our sound and how we evolve. How that will sound I cannot say yet.

 

How do you wish Wardruna to speak to people who may not be familiar with Norse history and culture?

To make a tree stand it must have strong roots or it will fall. Wardruna is not a re-enactment or us pretending to be Vikings, it is about celebrating our roots and culture. This project takes inspiration from our native culture but it is about creating something current and new. It is also important for me to dispel a few myths about the Runes and Norse culture that have been misinterpreted and made almost cartoonish by the media.The image of the Runes has been tarnished by some right-wing racist idiots who have no business using them and only did so for their own gain. I want to give the Runes a voice and let them speak for themselves! A lot of these songs have universal themes about man communicating with nature and the universe. I think people from all cultures can be inspired by that.

 

The Wardruna song ‘Fehu’ was used in the cable T.V. series Vikings. As someone with a strong interest in history how do you feel about the way the series portrays the Vikings and the culture you come from?

I am pleased with the way ‘Fehu’ was used but it is difficult for me to watch that series.I understand this series was produced primarily for the purpose of entertainment, even though it was on the History Channel but it is almost painful to watch because there are many inaccuracies.The way the Norse worshipped and traded for example were not depicted correctly but I understand this programme was not meant for a history nerd such as me. I do like some of the ways it portrayed the Vikings as they were; farmers and spiritual people with families. They were not just a bunch of barbarians! We come from a rich culture.

 

Wardruna’s music is steeped in Norse culture. How do you see it translate with people of different nationalities? Do different audiences react in differing ways to your music?

Actually it is remarkably similar. Our live performances evoke very strong emotions in people wherever we perform. I think it is important to have a venue that creates the right atmosphere and allows us to express ourselves.I have seen people crying at our concerts because the music is sometimes very melancholy. Wardruna’s music is very personal and it is sometimes hard for me to share it with people.I know we sing in the Norse language which most Europeans or other nationalities don’t understand but I feel the music has a life of its own and speaks with its own voice. People are clearly hearing his voice as it inspires such a reaction. The response has been overwhelming and it is very emotional for me to perform. This is not just music for the ears but for the spirit, body and mind. We want to create a connection, a non physical dialogue with our audience and I believe we are succeeding in doing that!

 

The two other vocalists Wardruna utilises are your ex-Gorgoroth bandmate Gaahl and folk singer Lindy Fay Hella. Do they bring anything to the creative process besides their voices?

Well Kristian (Gaahl) has worked with this kind of music on his own for a long time so he has several ideas he can bring to us. I am the main songwriter however our creative process is very organic. It can come from improvisation, a drumbeat, a lyric anywhere! Lindy brings a truly ethereal quality we needed for Wardruna. Her vocals offset ours perfectly and conjure up many different emotions. Our environment is very important for our rituals. Each composition is dictated by the Rune and the seasons and elements it represents. I may write a few parts then bring them to the group or I will gather them and suggest we work on something. It is whatever serves the Rune the best!

 

Coming from the Black Metal scene do you feel there is any link to Wardruna such as a shared attitude or set of ideas?

Definitely. Many people forget that Black Metal is not about a sound but the idea of doing whatever you want. I got out of playing Black Metal because it became quite monotonous. Suddenly it was all about who can blast harder and who can shred the most on guitar. It has lost all feeling. Wardruna allows me to connect with my roots but also move forward. Our creative process is very intense and inspiring!

 

What is your vision for Wardruna going forward? Do intend to expand the line up with other musicians?

I want to make it both bigger and smaller. I have lots of plans for Wardruna. Some compositions may be very stripped down and acoustic with minimal arrangements but I also want to add musicians for some things too. I have considered using a choir and more percussionists and I am always thinking about ways we can expand our horizons.

ROSS BAKER

Wardruna – Website

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