Check out the Icelandic Viking metal band Skälmöld (roughly “sword age”) and their DVD/CD “Skálmöld & Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands” (Skálmöld and the Icelandic Symphonic Orchestra) recorded last year in the Eldborg hall inside Harpa. It features the band plus three full choirs and the Icelandic Symphonic Orchestra. Being a fan of Symphonic and Power Metal this is certainly something I had to check out and liked immediately.
If you are lucky and not restricted by geolocation you can find individual titles as well as the full1 DVD video recording on Youtube or other streaming sites. Make sure to search for Skálmöld & Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands full2 and you should be able to find something.
I can warmly recommend the songs Kvaðning (call), Miðgarðsormur (Midgard serpent3) and Narfi4. Also Hel5 is pretty interesting due to the growling part of Edda Tegeder Óskarsdóttir, band member of the band Angist. You wouldn’t normally expect the growling part from a female.
Now go and check it out 😉 … and don’t forget to order it if you liked it. I certainly did6.
// Oliver
PS: the list of tracks on the DVD (those on the CD in bold):
- Heima
- Innrás
- Árás
- Gleipnir
- Upprisa
- Sleipnir
- Narfi
- Hefnd
- Sorg
- Loki
- Fenrisúlfur
- Miðgarðsormur
- Dauði
- Valhöll
- Hel
- Kvaðning
- Baldur
- I think it may still be cut, but I am not certain – the CD definitely only contains part of the songs presented in concert [↩]
- or Skálmöld & Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands and the name of a particular song, see my recommendations [↩]
- a creature from Norse mythology [↩]
- an Icelandic name [↩]
- Hel is a godess in Norse mythology [↩]
- … like and order it [↩]