Fagerlund's reviews

Well, it was quite some time since I did one of these! But this festival was so special I felt like I had to do one. They label themselves as a Metal Festival, but it's so much more than that really.

First of all, it's the location. It's located in Vestfold in Norway at Borre, a little bit south of Oslo. This area was very important during the Viking age, and they've tried to capture this by building a museum on the grounds, as it's full of mounds and traces of old guildhalls and a very large harbour from the Viking age. And this is really the theme for the festival. The camping site is located right next to the Oslo fjord, and you have to pass by the park/forest with the many grave mounds to get to the festival area, which by the way contains a recreated guildhall based on the findings on the site. The nature around the area is absolutely stunning and sets the perfect atmosphere. The festival then goes further with this theme, giving you access to the museum as well as arranging Mimir talks - lectures themed around the viking age, the spirituality and archeology and what have you - as well as the chance to try some old Viking games like balance challenges, axe throwing and archery. So even though the festival program doesn't start with music until 14 every day, they provide you with so much stuff to do during the days! And this isn't even mentioning the iconic blot they hold to open and close the festival...

But this blog is about music, so let's get into it!

 

 

First band out on the mainstage (aptly named Valhalla) was Ghaals Wyrd. Breaking off a bit from the viking theme of the festival, but still quite spiritual in a sense I suppose. I've seen them a couple of times before and I think they're alright. Quite enjoyable set this time as well.

  

And suddenly oldschool! I guess they recently got back together or something as I didn't expect to see these guys. But here they were! Honestly, I don't think they've aged that well... and since I don't really have any nostalgic connection to them either I got a bit bored rather quickly unfortunately.

 

After that it was time for the first gig inside of the recreated guildhall. And on stage was two... boys really. I don't know their age, but they looked very young indeed. But that doesn't matter, because when they started playing it was pretty damn awesome. They manage to blend 60's stoner with Black Metal in a perfect way. Fuzzy guitars and blast beats. Excellent stuff!

 

The headliner for the first day was Einar Selvik and Ivar Bjørnson performing songs from Hagsjá and Skuggsjá. And as you can expect it was pretty epic indeed. It was interesting to see Einar perform in something other than Wardruna, where he doesn't interact so much with the crowd but instead puts on a show. Here he actually talked to the crowd and introduced songs in a different way. And the mix of songs was quite nice indeed! Bonus points for adding in a special cover of Enslaveds Back to Yggdrasil in the set! And of course, they couldn't leave without playing some Wardruna as well. 

 

After that I came back into the guildhall where this very dark atmospheric ambient project was doing their thing. Not quite my kind of music, and especially live I have a hard time getting it. But it was certainly atmospheric. 

 

Before heading back through the dark forest to catch some sleep I managed to stay and hear a couple of songs from this nice acoustic folk music artist. Quite enjoyable! However it was perhaps not too well planned to perform Helvegen right after Einar performed it on the main stage...

 

 

 

The second day of the festival kicked off inside the guildhall with this Norwegian Punk/Black Metal band! I heard this might be the last show in quite some time, don't know if the details are public or not so I'll leave it at that. But if it is to be the last show in a while they certainly left a mark! I normally don't really like Punk that much, but this drummer was just so good! She put on awesome beat after awesome beat with so much energy she almost left the rest of the band far behind! Good stuff!

 

Local Stoner heroes entered the stage next playing their "Cosmic Doom Metal straight from Middle Earth". Quite catchy indeed, and it sounded pretty good. However I wasn't in the right mood for Stoner at the time so it was a bit lost on me. I should probably check these guys out at a later date.

 

Another local band, this time on the main stage and in the Progressive genre. They didn't quite catch my attention to be honest, so lets move on...

 

And back into the guildhall again where it was time for these Icelandic Death Metallers! This was that classic HM2-brand of Oldschool Stockholm Death Metal that I just love. Doesn't matter what mood I was in before, when I heard those two timer blast beats and chainsaw guitars - that's now what I'm in the mood for. This was actually the first Icelandic Death Metal band I heard, I already knew they have a strong Black Metal scene, but apparently I need to keep an eye on their Death Metal scene as well! As a pretty cool and unique touch they also brought out a woman who 'sang' in sign language for two songs. Death Metal for deaf people? Who would've known.

 

This was a very nice acoustic folk music set with two wonderful singers. Apparently they have some rock elements usually as well, but for Midgardsblot they decided to only play some nice folk songs, some of their own making and a couple medieval ones. 

 

Ah, the most exotic band of the festival I suppose! They came all the way from China to play their take on blending folk with Black Metal. Unfortunately it felt like their outfits was the highlight of the show... the music was much too same same for my tastes (it's OK to use more than one riff and one drum beat!). Still pretty cool to see though!

 

Ah Vreid, one of the bands I was looking forward to seeing again. It was quite some time since last time! And since I really like their latest album Lifehunger this should be good! And so it was. Very good set, great mix of old and new songs in the relatively short set they had. One of the highlights of the festival for me for sure.

 

Back to folk music! Unfortunately they had some technical difficulties in the set up and was pretty delayed, and due to the guildhall not being soundproof they had to cut their set short when Gåte started out on the mainstage... but the songs we got to hear were absolutely amazing! This is something I will definitely keep listening to. The melodies, the great play between the male and female voices, the harps... great stuff! Apparently they also had a jam in the reenactment camp every day as well... unfortunately I missed it - but alas!

 

One of the original Norwegian folk rock bands then! Personally I had never heard of them, and well, hearing them explains why I suppose. A bit too much Eurovision for my taste, but still it was catchy and I can see the appeal. 

 

After that very loud performance I came back to the small folk stage instead, where these guys performed their shamanistic style of drums and chanting. I enjoyed this one quite a lot!

 

They didn't cancel?! Now I've actually managed to see them twice, so apparently they DO play live! I have no idea how they fit in with the theme of the festival, but that's alright. Oldschool Death Metal is always welcome in my book anyway. Solid set from the legends indeed! Although I miss Ralph Santolla (RIP). Good way of ending the day with some headbanging.

 

 

 

The last day of music started with this "ethereal folk music". Skin drums and vocals for the most part, and apparently mostly improvised as well. It was quite enchanting!

 

I'm not a big fan of these guys to be honest, the vocals are always bothering me quite a bit. And yet I've somehow managed to see them 8 times now. Needless to say, I was more interested in finding some food at this point. And what food I found! It was by far the best festival food I've ever eaten! Amazing!

 

Another local band, playing some kind of hardcore. Wasn't quite my kind of thing, but damn they sure had a lot of energy I'll give them that!

 

Ah... third time that I catch these guys now. I absolutely love Bolt Thrower, which makes it a bit difficult to listen to Memoriam. Because they're not Bolt Thrower. But it's still good. And I'm glad they've found their stride now, with a bunch of solid songs. Good stuff.

 

It was a very long time since I last saw these Viking Thrashers! So this was pretty cool to see they still got that energy going. No wonder with the great songs they can bring out though. Very nice set!

 

Ah Enslaved... one of the main inspirations for this festival apparently! This show was a bit special since they had some dancers with them as well, who did some choreography for a bunch of songs. Not sure it really added much, but nice to see that they're branching out I suppose? Still, Enslaved did what they usually do. Very good show as usual!

 

Ah, the final headliner of the festival then! I don't know if there are any good words to describe Heilung really. It was... fantastic. From the tiniest details like having forest and bird sounds as an ambient background noise while waiting before the start, to the light, to the stage set up, to the outfits... Really amazing show. Because that's what it is, a full show. It's not only music, it's a performance. They're telling a story on stage, that's really captivating.

Their music though. It's so hypnotic with those drums. So powerful. The voices, so hypnotising. The feeling... magical. However, after about one hour something happened, and their sound started to be some kind of folk techno instead of the shamanistic ritual they usually do. That... didn't quite resonate as well with me, and to me was very unexpected. But with how amazing the first hour was, the last 20 minutes didn't diminish the performance too much for me. It was absolutely fantastic.

 

Second time I managed to catch these guys! And they said it felt a bit hopeless to play after Heilung... and I can understand that. But for me it was actually perfect. With the weird turn Heilung took towards the end it was amazing to come back to these guys and their acoustic drums and throat singing. And it really helped putting me in the right mood for the Ragnarök ending ceremony blot.

 

A feeling that this Waelsh guy kept going, with more skin drums and singing, but this time in Waelsh! It's a really nice language, and I think this was the first time I heard it sung. Very good stuff!

 

And finally, the last band to play before the ending ceremony, another folk band with skin drums and big focus on vocals. And again, it was just perfect for this time of the night and festival. These three last acts together with the Ragnarök blot really left me with a great feeling for this festival, they really captured the atmosphere for the entire festival. 

 

 

And that was it! I'm really impressed by this festival overall. They did experience some growing pains however, with a thousand more visitors than any previous year coming this time. I think they really need to think hard on how many tickets to sell for coming years, because this amount of people felt like the limit for the area. But even so, great festival that I can really recommend for a very unique experience!