MIDGARDSBLOT FESTIVAL

VENUE BORRE, NORWAY DATE 15-17/08/2019

Now in its fifth year, Midgardsblot is a music festival meets Viking reenactment extravaganza. Surrounded by a forest, the Oslo fjord and the Viking burial mounds of Borre, the festival is wonderfully curated, from the richly carved Gildehall building, a reconstructed great hall turned music venue, to the Viking Village, a camp/market where you can shake off your modern woes and purchase some runic jewellery. Close to the festival is the Midgard Vikingsenter, a museum that hosts talks about music and Nordic history, as well as tours of the grave mounds and Viking games where you can try out archery and axe throwing.

The festival begins with Thursday’s Blot Ceremony. Having just seen the Swedish horror film Midsommar about a historic festival gone awry, we’re a bit unnerved when we’re led towards a phallic-looking wooden altar doused with unidentified blood by our dishevelled drumming Viking leaders. But even with the spectacle of festival-goers rubbing blood on their faces while calling to the Nordic gods is quite the culture shock, the message is one of acceptance and community.

Musically, Midgardsblot is rooted in the dark side of folk, with more extreme metal acts and prog peppering the lineup. Over the weekend, various traditional Nordic folk bands play at the smallest of the three stages, the Kaupangr tent, where metal yoga classes also get sleepy Vikings moving each morning.

Headlining the main stage on Friday are Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik. Their Skuggsjá/Hugsjá projects combine elements from their own bands Enslaved and Wardruna, and take on extra emotional weight performed on home turf. Other prog-friendly acts include Nan Madol, Norway’s answer to Tool, and Gåte, symphonic prog meets Nordic folk played with pizazz, including an animated violinist. Enslaved play a special set that includes dancers in sparkly suits and body paint – we’re not quite sure why, but it’s fun to watch them slink around to the bearded Norwegians’ career-spanning set.

But the stars of the weekend are Sunday night headliners Heilung. Their self-described ‘amplified history’ is heavy, eerie folk that is an authentic ode to the past, and to the natural world. Performed live, it’s an overwhelming spectacle where the band dress in furs and antlers, use instruments made out of bones and have a primal warrior tribe howling at the Moon. Heilung translates to ‘healing’, and as the Moon rises through the trees and smoke spills from the stage, we feel enveloped in their ritual. It’s a genuinely moving experience.

The festival ends with a ceremony at 2am, where Viking hosts lead everyone through the forest and to the nearby burial mounds, to stand upon them in a huge group under the Moon and chant and howl to the sky. Why the hell not? Midgardsblot, you’ve won us over.