Heilung Take You Back In Time

Imagine traveling back in time to the Bronze Age and entering a sacred oak grove during the Solstice festival to witness ritualistic music created by druids, seers, and shamans as they create musical tributes to ancient gods by singing and chanting their ritualistic songs in honor of them.

Heilung creates an amazing world through their pioneering experimental pagan Germanic & Scandinavian folk music that they call “amplified history.” Each night they bring this visionary music alive through live performances.

Origins

Heilung are masters at recreating ancient folk music. This Danish, Norwegian and German trio expertly blend otherworldly vocals, field recordings, dark ambient soundscapes and shamanic rhythms into an intoxicating blend that transports its listeners back to the dawn of civilization in each work they create.

Heilung’s hit song Krigsgaldr now has over 29 million views on YouTube and since then they have released two additional ancient-inspired albums, as well as theatrical live shows that include costumed theatricality and tribe-sized lineups.

Heilung’s album Drif draws its inspiration from texts and runic inscriptions of Germanic peoples from the Iron Age and Viking Age, telling stories about deities such as Jotnar and valkyries; employing instruments including bowed lyre, throat singing and chanting as well as field recordings of nature sounds and battle sounds to accompany each track on this album. Their previous albums focused mainly on Viking culture but Drif reaches further than this European limit by exploring great pre-Columbian civilizations outside Europe

Styles

Heilung has introduced a heavy metal aesthetic into pre-Christian Europe music with their latest album ‘Drif’, offering ancient civilisations an expansive palette of sounds that may have been available. They combine vocal styles from past with modern instrumentation and field recordings from nature for an alluring sound that conjures Viking culture with power and excitement.

Their songs feature an eclectic combination of traditional instruments and singing, including tribal-sounding yells from Kai Uwe Faust as well as his throat singing that recalls Tibet or Mongolia, while Christopher Juul’s whispery whispering adds more contemporary influences in their neofolk music.

For its music videos and live performances, the group uses traditional clothing from Germanic peoples of the Bronze and Iron Ages for live performances and videos. This visual presentation of their mystical music allows listeners to imagine themselves somewhere far removed from modern society’s stresses. Their sound can be described as “amplified history”, reflecting their intent to bridge modern society with human history through music.

Influences

Heilung’s roots lie firmly within traditional Nordic culture, yet they draw influence from Eastern cultures and languages as well. Their lyrics draw upon texts found on archaeological digs as well as runic inscriptions discovered during excavation. Furthermore, their instruments–horse skin drums, goatskin rattle shakers and bones–match what would have been available during that era.

The band‘s chanting is reminiscent of Mongolian throat singing, while some songs feature pulsed howls that bring metal-inspired sounds to their music. Kai Uwe Faust sings soft melodies while also adding bursts of guttural staccato chanting and an occasional guttural staccato yell into his melodies.

Vocal coach Elizabeth Zharoff likens their music and live shows to “a primal rite.” For their live performances, each band member wears handmade traditional attire from Germanic peoples from the Bronze and Iron ages; additionally they perform with a group of warriors who add ambience and theater.

Live Performance

It can be tempting to shut your eyes during a Heilung performance and let their hypnotic chants transport you away, but doing so would be a mistake for various reasons. Primarily, you would miss out on seeing all of their visual spectacles!

Heilung’s core trio is joined on tour by an impressive troupe of performers and warriors dressed in period-appropriate clothing; together they engage in an impressive ritual that is both visually stunning and musically captivating. Heilung proves there’s still room for innovation and authenticity when it comes to live performance!

This was an event to remember. Not only was it memorable in itself, but its effects left all who attended feeling better than when they arrived. An unforgettable, body-moving experience which truly lives up to the band‘s self-description as “amplified history”. For those who missed it this time around, future tours offer plenty of chances to relive it all over again.