09-04-2016 North Winds Over Europe

[schema type=”event” evtype=”Event” name=”North Winds Over Europe Tour 2016″ description=”Headliner: Månegarm Supports: Skyforger, Ereb Altor” sdate=”2016-04-09″ stime=”08:00 pm” street=”Rock Cafe” city=”Hamburg” country=”DE” ]

A nice evening was awaiting the fans of pagan metal at Rock Cafe. This time, there was more of a “mini fest” than a concert feeling to it; Swedish viking metallers Månegarm were the headliners and the supports were Skyforger and Ereb Altor. The venue was quite small but really nice and the fans already gathered in front of the club before the start of the show.

Ereb Altor was the first band. They were founded in 2003 as the ‘continuation’ of the doom metal band Isole’s predecessor band Forlorn and one thing in common between those bands is the line-up; the members Mets and Ragner from the other two bands founded Ereb Altor.

As soon as the band got on stage, the venue became slowly packed. As a fan of the genre, I heard the band’s name many times so I know that they are quite known in the scene and  this was also clear in the venue; they had some hardcore fans who sang along and headbanged to the songs. Musically, the band’s show was all about pagan metal melodies with lots of clean vocals throughout the setlist which added a different dimension to the evening for sure. I am not sure if the band was satisfied with the venue’s sound system but they could have performed a lot better in a venue with a far better sound system. Nevertheless, I could see the drive and the motivation within the band which made the audience go crazy!

One highlight was definitely the Bathory cover “A Fine Day To Die”. As a matter of fact, my first thoughts when listening to band were “Hmm they sound a lot like Bathory!” and then comes the Bathory cover which made me surprised a bit! A tribute to Quorthon was not forgotten for sure and I thank the band for that! In addition to this, I have to say that the Bathory influence in the band did not disturb me at all; I think it fits to the style of the band and I found it awesome that they still keep the tradition alive!

Skyforger next. They are a folk metal band from Latvia and they have been delivering Latvian pagan metal since 1995. The latest album has been released last year and just like Ereb Altor, I can say that Skyforger is a known name when it comes to pagan metal as I have seen their name many times.

The band definitely brought that traditional atmosphere to the venue as soon as they got on stage. Especially vocalist Peter’s outfit really fit to the overall vibe. I could also see that the venue was more crowded than ever; not only because the next band was Månegarm but also because Skyforger managed to captivate the audience with their authentic sound. Musically, the highlight for me were the great mix of clean vocals and the harsh/heavy metal – and even hard rock!-  atmosphere in the band’s music. Despite the ‘average’ sound system in the venue, the band did great with those choirs and made everyone headbang and enjoy the fine Latvian pagan metal.

Speaking of the traditional atmosphere, the band’s songs are mostly about the Latvian/Baltic history as well as Prussians and Peter even told stories about some songs before the band played them, which I found quite nice. I wasn’t sure if the audience could understand what they meant though.. But as a fan of pagan metal, I always like the aspect of history in live shows; since some of the songs in the set-list were in Latvian, it was nice to hear the stories behind. Overall, the band – along with Ereb Altor- warmed up the audience quite well and made the necks ache before the headliners Månegarm!

The mighty Månegarm were the headliners of the evening. The viking metallers released their latest self-titled record last year, which marks the 20th year anniversary of the band so some anticipation and special stuff was expected for sure. As headliners, the band played for 75 minutes in total but I had to skip the last 30 minutes of the set since I had to catch the last train home.

The band started the set with the first song “Blodörn” from the latest record and gave the signs already that the next 75 minutes were going to include lots of headbanging and singing along and even some craziness! Soundwise, the band showed that they were still rocking with full energy despite playing in the last show of the tour. The fans did not forget to cheer and clap along and even to sing along to the choir parts. Surely,a band like Månegarm definitely had some hardcore fans who even knew the lyrics to their Swedish songs so the overall atmosphere was definitely viking metal!

Since the band has been celebrating the 20th year anniversary, they did not forget to play some special songs and the highlight of the evening was definitely the mini-acoustic set; you could tell that the band was not sure if the audience was gonna like as Erik -with jokes- asked if it was OK if they could play 1-2 acoustic songs. But it was definitely a special moment when the band played “Eld” and “Segervisa”; this time they also got the crowd’s support. Such a magical moment! Other than that, the setlist included some classics from the band as well as some songs from the latest and the previous album so there was a bit of everything for everyone!

Although I couldn’t stay until the end, it was definitely a magical evening for us pagan metal fans! Thanks to all the bands for making that night special!

Links:

Månegarm Official
Skyforger Official
Ereb Altor Official