The lamenting melodies and the deep forest rain anthems really do make you feel something deep and powerful, Wardruna are singing stark and compelling songs that hook deep into their, and by extension, our own past. New single Voluspa with its stark and sparse beauty is delivered perfectly and with songs culled from their three albums entwined together the set dynamic builds and broods perfectly. The opening Tyr is a dynamic piece that would match Rammstein for power put without the high decibel rock voltage and uses its own dynamics to make it work. Her soaring blissful voice sends shivers up your spine and is the perfect counterpoint as it reaches beyond the forest and into the sky, behind them are four players who play traditional instruments like the ten foot long weird looking horn thing, drums and various string instruments creating drones and atmospheres whilst also adding to the layers of voice in the climactic songs. To his side is long-term member Lindy-Fay Hella, who is also from Bergen in Norway. His own singing voice is quite stunning and he often plays some of the tribal drums or the lyre type instrument as he emotes these deep melodies. Live he is a charismatic presence reflecting his role of acting as well in the Viking series. They first came onto our radar when we reviewed them in Oslo in 2011 and we have seen them play and interviewed Einer a couple of times like here where he explained this deep and thoughtful concept and its backdrop of deep spirituality and the forces of nature. The themes and the tunes resonate far, far deeper with the highest form of music being the harmony between human voices.īuilt around the singular vision of Einar, Wardruna are something special. The highly original set up combines to create a pagan neo-folk but it’s far deeper and more ritualistic than that suggests. Non-traditional instruments and other sources of sound like trees, rocks, water and torches are also used in sound collages entwined with the instrumental drones. The music combines 2/3/4 part harmonies over compelling shamanic tribal drums and eternal drones played on recreated old and historical instruments such as primitive deer-hide frame drums, Kraviklyra, tagelharpe, mouth harp, goat horn, lur and more. This is standing ovation stuff and in this out of control world of all surface and no depth Wardruna’s stunning, emotive and highly original music has struck a powerful nerve with people seeking more from their culture.įor over an hour, ancient folk melodies are being sung in perfect harmony by the Norwegian group who have hooked into their own deep forest souls and discovered a resonating and eternal culture. When he finally speaks as at the end of the set he is choked with emotion at the rapt attention from the audience.
#Beatles and the mighty vikings album series
The big break was getting their music onto the highly successful Vikings series who presented their genius to a huge audience who pour in tonight and are stunned into a respectful silence by the pagan genius that unfolds in front of them.Įven Einar Selvik, the driving force of Wardruna, looks stunned. Without playing any commercial cards they have done the most purest and noblest of things – made a deeply resonant music on their own terms and seen it embraced by a mainstream.
#Beatles and the mighty vikings album plus
After years of being a best-kept secret, Wardruna, are now a band that can sell out 2000 plus venues like the stunning Albert Hall in Manchester. This is one of those unique evenings when a sold out venue stands in an awed silence between each song because something really special is being played out in front of them. Embracing the deep and powerful forces of nature, modern paganism, animism and the old knowledge in a spiritual and musical sense they have created a unique and powerful music that is suddenly being embraced. The audience are, again, stunned into silence by the majesty of the performance by the Norwegian band who taker their Viking and pagan culture and create something uniquely modern from it.
When the band return to the stage to play Helvegen for an encore, they deliver a dark and powerful song of brooding melody sung in perfect harmony over resonant drones and powerful tribal drumming about passing over to the other side it’s something quite special.
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