Although Midgardsblot is labelled as a metal festival, it is far more than that. This a gathering of like-minded souls upon the sacred Viking burial mounds of Borre, Southern Norway, assembled to honour the local heritage and culture, as well as to enjoy the music.

This is one of the country’s most important national heritage sites and this area was clearly of great importance to the Vikings that once lived here. As well as the stellar musical line up, the festival gives attendees the opportunity to explore this national heritage as well as to experience the Viking way of life, including the opportunity to visit the Midgard Viking Museum and to go on tours of the local area.

As part of the festival, there is a Viking camp and the opportunity to take part in traditional Viking games and sports. There are re-enacted Viking battles which take place during the weekend providing a real spectacle, and the festival crowd is a mixture of typical metalhead rubbing shoulders with those in Viking garb.

Furthermore there were signing sessions with the artists and daily seminars covering a wealth of topics relevant to Viking and Nordic history. There was also a listening session for the new Heilung album and the opportunity to sail on the Oslo fjord on board a replica of the Oseberg Viking ship which was excavated in the local area.

As if that wasn’t enough there was also a Norse Tattoo convention featuring some of the best Norse style tattoo artists from around the world. The festival opened with a blot ceremony and closed with a Ragnarok closing ceremony, adding further drama and ceremony to things. With all of this going on, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that there were some bands playing, but in fact there was an awesome collection of bands on the bill, including black and extreme metal, as well as those plying more esoteric Nordic style music. While some of these bands may seem to be at opposite ends of the musical spectrum, they sat together comfortably and most of those in attendance happily listened to most of the bands playing.

I should mention that with four stages running it would be impossible to catch all of the bands as much as I would’ve liked to. Therefore I will cover as many of the bands as possible but inevitably someone has to be missed out.

The musical portion of the festival site was centred around the magnificent Gildehallen which is an ornate reconstruction of a Viking feasting hall which was previously excavated in the local area. The hall itself housed one of the festival smaller stages, and also looked directly onto the Valhalla stage (the festival’s “second” stage) providing one of the most glorious backdrops imaginable.

The main stage had been moved this year to a larger area in keeping with the increased capacity of the festival, whereas in contrast to the huge main stage, the “fourth” stage, the Kaupangr stage, was simply a small area in one of the covered tents within the Kaupangr village which was to all intents and purposes a metal and Viking market.

The opening day at Midgardsblot is usually a relatively trimmed back affair, allowing attendees to arrive and set up camp before the opening blot and then catch a few bands. However, it is growing each time and this year offered a fairly packed musical line up which followed the ceremonial blot.

Unfortunately, my travel logistics (and a missed connection) meant that I missed the Blot and the first few bands on the smaller stages as well as Konvent, which was disappointing, but I did arrive for the end of Mork’s set who provided their usual intense, battering black metal which was being lapped up by the enthusiastic crowd.

As soon as they finished I dashed over to the Kaupangr stage to catch Runahild playing a stripped back set with Gustav from Folket Bortafor Nordavinden. A small crowd had gathered and were enjoying the music. After a couple of songs, I took the opportunity for a wander around the Kaupangr area which was home to the merch stalls and metal market which quickly emptied my bank account. It was interesting to see that both Wardruna and Heilung had their own stalls such was the amount of merchandise available from both of them.

Shortly after, Trondheim’s Agabas took to the stage in the Gildehallen with their complex death jazz. Flowery shirts and flailing hair were the order of the day as the six piece shook the hall to its foundations. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end as they overlapped with Kalandra who I had not had the opportunity to see before and I was determined not to miss.

With the hugely talented Katrine Stenbekk as the focal point, Kalandra opened with ‘Valkyrja’ whose ethereal melodies swept across the venue with the Gildehallen on one side, and trees encircling the rest of the site creating the perfect atmosphere.

Katrine’s vocals were powerful and yet also had a vulnerable quality adding another dimension to the music. During the intro to the third track ‘Borders’, the band had to compete with Agabas, whose aggressive music was overflowing out of the Gildehallen in direct contrast to the Kalandra’s more serene approach. Nonetheless, Kalandra fought on and delivered a delicate yet impassioned rendition of this track.

As the set went on, the band seemed to grow in confidence and began to step forward, engaging with the crowd from the monitors in the photopit. Later, Katrine announced that this was the first time that the band had played with the full musical arrangement and from the crowd’s point of view, it sounded stunning.

Despite having their own back catalogue, Kalandra are perhaps best known for their cover of Wardruna’s ‘Helvegen’ and a lot of the crowd were wandering whether this would be played.

This was answered when Katrine announced to the crowd that she had been given permission by.the man himself to play this song at Midgardsblot” leading into a delicate rendition of ‘Helvegen’ with the stage bathed in red lights, ending with a rapturous cheer, before the band launched into their final track ‘Brave New World’ which was upbeat and had the crowd dancing.

The first day had gone by in a flash and had been the perfect start to the festival for me.

Review and Photos Andy Pountney 

@shot_in_the_dark_photography2

PART 2