12-10-2008 Ragnärok's Aaskeria Festival Tour

Venue:Biebob, (Belgium )
By: Elvira Visser

When arriving at Biebob, “Gwydion” was already on stage giving a good show. This band comes from Portugal and is influenced by the myths and mysteries of the North. They play a mix between black, folk and viking metal. I noticed some shadow silhouettes and a good light show from the back. I did not have much time to see this band because I was interviewing another band. When my friend and I came back we found a place somewhere in the back because it was crowded, not totally sold out I guess but at least there was some room to dance a little.

We enjoyed the last two or tree tracks from “Svartsot”, a band coming from Denmark. What I noticed in these few tracks is that they make a nice mix with catchy (folk) melodies with the more brutal aspect of death metal, but it stays melodic. This was noticeable when seeing the crowd, many guys nodding their heads and some girls dancing. They have released their debut album “Saga of the Ravens” at the ending of last year. The theme is about the two ravens from Odin that fly out over the world and when returning they will tell great stories. The band will tell these stories on stage and entertain the crowd.

After some folk and viking metal it was time for the pirate band “Alestorm”. When seeing this band I have to think about Korpiklaani, and I am to shout “beer, beer!”. And Alestorm is exactly like that. Drinking songs about rum, raids, women and treasures, with a Scottish touch. You will place yourself in a cafe where the men get drunk and sing out loud. And this was the case, the audience was singing and shouting out loud. The voice of singer Christopher Bowes sounds raw, which fits in perfectly with the pirate lyrics. “Captain Morgan’s Revenge” was released worldwide in January 2008.

The harder sound was delivered by “Hollenthon” this night. It has been quiet after their last album “With Vilest of Worms to Dwell” but after years they are back and better than ever with their CD “Opus Magnum”. It is dark and heavy but also has this energy which they also deliver live on stage. Besides the brutal energy of metal they bring a classical atmosphere with orchestral epic sounds. I was a little curious what the audience would think of this band because they do not have that viking or pirate theme. But I saw arms in the air and some people who were singing along, I also noticed that it was pretty crowded. They played songs from “Opus Magnum” like “Once We Were King”, “Ars Moriendi” and “Sons of Perdition” on to which many people Ooh!-ed along. The band gave a good show full of energy.

When I heard the intro of Týr’s “Gandkvæði Tróndar”, I still had the energy from Hollenthon. But Týr is quite different. It does have energetic guitar work, hell, even great riffs but the traditional melodies calm you down a bit. I must say that the set from Týr was very good. It had the faster tracks and the more melodic ones mixed. Last gig I saw from them they played “Hail to the Hammer” at the end but tonight they played it as their third song, getting the crowd to sing along. There was a lot of energy in Týr’s show. They even played “Wild Rover” from Dropkick Murphys which almost everyone knows and the crowd sang along with arms linked while enjoying the music. Týr brings you some true viking/folk metal with traditional melodies of their ancestors. They even sing in their own language, as the band comes from the Faroe Islands. What I also enjoy when watching Týr are the acapella parts such as “Sinklars Vísa” which is on their latest album “Land”, which was released in May this year.
Links:
Gwydion MySpace
Svartsot MySpace
Alestorm MySpace
Hollenthon MySpace
Tyr MySpace