Midgardsblot Festival - Borre, Vestfold, Norway 18/8/22 ⋆ Ave Noctum

Thursday morning was restful and saw me taking a stroll around the burial mounds, soaking up the atmosphere before Vargvrede opened the music for me in the Gildehallen. I was familiar with their studio work and I had always been impressed, not least by the ‘Lycanthropic Oppressor’ opus, but had never had the opportunity to catch them live.

Opening with a battering ‘Sanctimonious’ and ‘Song of Betrayal’, their blackened thrash did not disappoint but I had to drag myself away to get over to the main stage for Lucifer’s Child whose Hellenic black metal should need no introduction.

Their pulsating aural assault was as vitriolic as it was ritualistic with punishing rhythms which pummelled the Midgardsblot crowd.

By the time ‘Fall of the Rebel Angels’ was being played, a decent circle pit had opened up with the crowd lapping up this immense, epic black metal.

I then made my first visit of the day to the the Kaupangr stage for another episode of Runahild performing with Gustav, as she effortlessly delivered her ethereal soundscapes which were a perfect fit for the surroundings.

In contrast Vomitory laid waste to the main stage with their no-nonsense Swedish death metal. One track led to the next as the punishing outpourings did not pull any punches and was lapped up by the appreciative Midgardsblot crowd. Perhaps the highlight of the set for me before I had to leave was a particularly barbaric ‘Terrorise, Brutalise, Sodomise’.

Later on during the festival I overheard somebody telling her friend that she had vomited in the pit during Vomitory’s sets and she was very proud of this achievement!

I had to leave Vomitory before they finished, as they clashed with Vǫluspá who I was keen to see again, so I headed to the Gildehallen to make sure I caught the latter part of her set. On this occasion she performed as a duet with Varg Saastad and they delivered a passionate set of Nordic folk with delicate yet powerful vocals.

The effect was completed with both Sól Geirsdóttir and Varg dressed in traditional Viking attire.

Keen to see as many bands as I could I quickly returned to the second, Valhalla stage for Ævestaden. I have to admit that I was not familiar with this Swedish – Norwegian group prior to the festival but a bit of research showed that they perform using a combination of traditional Nordic and more modern day instruments.

Their set provided sublime melodies and was mellow, yet entrancing. A relatively small crowd were respectfully appreciative with loud applause between the tracks and the band looked to be thoroughly enjoying their set.

I hotfooted it back to the main, Helheim, stage for Portuguese black metal outfit Gaerea. Despite my best efforts I had never managed to catch them before and I was really looking forward to the set.

The masked five piece took to the stage and were relentless from start to finish with a massive sound. The focal point of the stage was the microphone stand which had the Gaerea sigil proudly displayed.

The crowd were soon headbanging as one cathartic beast after another was unleashed. I was not disappointed with my first encounter with this group and I hope to catch them again soon. I anticipate big things for this band.

Keeping the momentum going were Urgehal on the Valhalla stage. The Norwegian black metal band initially formed in 1992 but disbanded in 2012 after Trondr Nefas died. However the band decided to reform for some live outings to honour their fallen brother.

As such, this promised to be an emotional and special set. The band took to the stage, covered in corpse paint and blood before the vocalist spat a load of fake (I hope!) blood into the crowd, but most of it seemed to end up on me in the photo pit.

Having wiped the blood off the cameras, I turned my attention to the band. They were aggressive and full on but melody permeated the intensity. Halfway through the set a decent size pit opened up in the crowd — this was good-natured and looked to be more of a dancing pit than a mosh pit!

The vocalist was changed halfway through the set but this did not impact upon the level of aggression. As I said, this was my first live encounter with Urgehal and I was not disappointed at all. I look forward to catching them again at Inferno.

Once again I found myself dashing back to the main stage, this time for the otherworldly music of Denmark’s Myrkur. I have been a big fan of her work for many years but was particularly impressed with her recent ‘Folkesange’ album where she focused on Scandinavian folk music using traditional instruments.

I had the feeling this set was going to be something special and I was right. This music was absolutely stunning with Myrkur on guitar keyboards and obviously vocals. The whole set was amazing with sublime melodies creating an atmosphere which was perfect for the hallowed ground upon which the music was being played.

My personal highlight was ‘House Carpenter’ but to be honest it was hard to pick just one track.

With no time to spare I dashed back to the Valhalla stage for Ireland’s Primordial. The opening trio of ‘Where Greater Men Have Fallen’, ‘No Grave Deep Enough’ and ’As Rome Burns’ were absolutely stunning and reinforced to me how good Primordial are.

Nemetheanga was the focal point as he stalked the stage, lunging towards to crowd from the monitors as the set progressed.

Another personal favourite, ‘The Coffin Ships’ came later on but to be honest by this point it was all overwhelming, such was the intensity and passion coming from the stage.

For the final time of the day, I found myself dashing back to the Helheim stage, for the days headliner. I have to admit I have been a fan of Wardruna since my encounter with them back at Midgardsblot in 2016. Since then, I have seen them many times, in several different countries, but nothing compares to experiencing them in this special setting amongst the Viking burial mounds in the shadow of the Gildehallen.

The band took to the stage in subdued lighting with an array of traditional instruments including a Kravik Lyre, Tagelharpa, Lurs and a goat horn (as far as I could tell, I’m no expert!). The vocal harmonies from the entire band were outstanding, but it was Einar Selvik and Lindy-Fay Hella that were the main focus.

The whole performance was impassioned, generating an intense atmosphere from the outset which was augmented by the perfect setting. There were many highlights to the set, including the upbeat ‘Solringen’, the Skaldic version of ‘Voluspá’ and the intensity of ‘Rotlaust Tre Fell’. However, the inevitable highlight was, of course, a sensational performance of ‘Helvegen’. As usual, Einar took time to explain the background to this song, explaining that “it is a song about death, dying, remembering and honouring somebody you have lost, crossing over and letting go”.

The stage was bathed in red light and lit by flaming torches. By the end of the song and following a rapturous reply reception from the crowd members of the band were clearly moved and very emotional with one visibly in tears.

This was the perfect finale to what had been a truly special day at this wonderful festival. I had seen many fantastic bands and found myself running between stages simply trying to catch the bands that I wanted to see. It had been an awesome day, and I could not wait for the remaining two.