Review: Heilung ‘LIFA Iotungard (Live At Red Rocks 2021)’
Heilung are approaching the latest hot new thing, what with being featured on both the UK’s Download Festival and the alternative media circus event that is Glastonbury in 2024.
Whist those in the know in metal/alternative circles have been aware of the collective’s existence since their formation in 2015, the exposure from the former Pilton Pop festival appearance and buzz elicited would see them gain highlights on the BBC and favorable reports in the likes of the UK’s Guardian newspaper finds them thrust suddenly into mainstream consciousness.
Having witnessed them live myself at Donington Park earlier this year, I have to admit that they were one of my highlights of the weekend. Even my, let’s just say more classic rock inclined friend who joined us at the ‘ceremony’ halfway through after savouring the delights of Kentucky’s southern rockers Black Stone Cherry, settled into the atmosphere and hypnotic rhythms declaring (after the initial shock) ‘I don’t know what I’m watching, but they have my attention’.
This is because, for the uninitiated, Heilung don’t play shows, they invite the audience into an intimate tribal ceremony that celebrates their Nordic culture and heritage, opening a dimensional door to the past and the roots of their ancestral human spiritual being.
Using instruments ranging from rattles and ritual bells to human bones, fashioned in contemporary and ancient configurations, throat singing and ritual chanting. To the modern eye, this seems alien and otherworldly despite the cultural roots dating back to their ancestors in a philosophy that ties together the human consciousness and subconscious that still lingers beneath the surface.
This unique approach has seen their music appear in computer games, TV series, even films, but it is the live experience that truly allows the listener to immerse themselves in the sonic reverence of this special band. With their sold out 2021 Red Rock live show LIFA Lotungard being released on Season Of Mist in live format, including vinyl, CD and Blu-Ray this year alongside another performance, it begs the question does Heilung hold up shorn of the visual component of their artistry?
As ever the Opening Ceremony begins with with Kai Uwe Faust leading Christopher Juul, Maria Franz and the rest of the Nordic collective in an ancient prayer before the pulsing rhythms and tribal drumming of In Maidjan vibrates through your very being.
The throat singing is backed by subtle electronics and a chorus of ancient hype men matching the guttural, primal sounds. As it swells to more melodic mantra-like chanting from the choir of vocals, the audience is sucked in to the cathartic release punctuated by shrill cries that is not channelled in the manner of song structures, but pieces that build and grow, pulling you into a vortex that is all consuming. The explosions of rapturous sounds of approval from the attending throng shows how personal and affecting these performances are as they build using flutes and all manner of flavourings.
Set in the world famous venue just outside Denver, Colorado, the cavernous reverb must have been truly all consuming, framed between the giant sandstone rocks as they paid tribute to the native people (who also appeared in the opening ceremony) as they performed their 2017 album in its entirety.
If you accept that premise and surrender, you will experience some of the most intricate and complex music and feelings…
The animalistic howls and call and response of Alfadhirhati was a particular highlight of Download and here sounds massive with the stomping percussion, crow calls, hypnotising and intense, lettering on the edge of religious ecstasy and unsettling warning.
The ringing electronic hum of Krigsgaldr, aided by founding member Christopher Juul adds layers of texture and ushers in an air of restrained power, whilst the passionate and incredible vocal acrobatics from singer Maria Franz deserves heaps of credit as they transcend the realms of music and create something truly magical.
When they do break into English, Heilung remain mysterious, threatening and celebratory. As they work through the dynamic performance, with warriors on stage dancing and declaring battle on Hakkerskaldyr or the female led prayer of Svanrand, the experience flows with a connectivity that builds and releases tension in the listener that, having done it myself, transports you away and enables you to get lost within the performance. It makes me think of the sample on Marilyn Manson’s Smells Like Children EP where a voice says ‘Once you get the music inside you, there’s no knowing what you will do’, listening to the ‘amplified history’ here is a testament to that feeling.
The closing three-track encore featuring two numbers from their 2019 album Futha (Traust and Elddansurin) and bowing out with the intensity of Harmer Hippyer from their eponymous debut, LIFA Iotungard is a powerful, mesmerising display of power and texture. The band look through the mists of time to tap into a primal force that lies deep with us all, demonstrating no matter how technology takes us away from our core as natural beings, somewhere there is something encoded into our DNA that lies dormant, waiting.
The first words of the album give their mission statement, ‘Remember, we are all brothers. All people, beasts, tree and stone and wind, we all descend from the one great being that was always there, before people lived and named it, before the first seed sprouted.’
If you accept that premise and surrender, you will experience some of the most intricate and complex music and feelings. Don’t be fooled into thinking that Heilung are simply playing a gimmick. Stripped of the live augmentation, this album is still an incredible experience.
Label: Season Of Mist
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden
