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JJ's Bizarre Blog #46 - Norse Tales of Viking Legend
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Hail, travelers! The time has come for the next tome in the Bizarre Saga! February has now officially rolled around and while spring is on the way, it’s not quite there yet. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner so I decided it would be fitting to showcase some appropriate songs. About pillaging, razing villages and questing across the frigid North! Anyone who knows me knows I love me some history and mythology, so let’s celebrate this with a group of people that seem to captivate the imaginations of countless. A favourite of all kinds of movies and a darling of the metal sphere. Get aboard the dragonship, raise your horns and get ready, because here’s music about Vikings and Norse mythology!
I’m pretty sure all of you are familiar with what Vikings are, but I’ll give you a brief rundown anyway. These burly, mighty people came from Scandinavia and between the 8th and 11th centuries conquested across the world, conquering many lands, especially in Northern Europe. This all left a significant cultural mark on those areas that can still be felt today. Much of the English language is influenced by Norse, including four days of the week and concepts ranging from democracy to law, the latter being a Viking word too. Courtesy of their phenomenal longboats, equally adept at conquering rough open seas and turbulent twisting rivers, the Vikings were explorers at heart and travelled far and wide, first discovering and populating what is today Iceland and the Faroe Islands, journeying as far east and south as Iran and the Arabian peninsula. They were even the first Europeans to reach North America, centuries before ol’ Chris made it over there!
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Everywhere they went, they also brought their rich and vibrant Norse mythology. Tales of the nine realms, of war between giants and gods and the complex multifaceted tales captured in the Prose and Poetic Edda! These feature many iconic figures that I know you’re heard one way or another – Odin, Thor, Loki, Ymir, Fenrir, Jormungandr and many more! This and the legend of Ragnarok, the war to end the world, have become cultural staples that inspire tales all over the world from antiquity till today!
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A lot of how these legends were preserved was with music of course, but a lot of the traditional songs were merely spread by word of mouth and never written down, so their preservation is dubious at best. It was in classical music though where this underlying cultural footprint first stepped into the limelight. Many composers found inspiration from mythology when creating their symphonies and operas and Norse mythology provided ample material. Not to mention that a lot of these creative minds were from Scandinavia, Germany and the like, so these stories must’ve felt very close to home. The most iconic composition is obviously Richard Wagner’s ambitious project Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), which contains his iconic Ride of the Valkyries piece that is among the most iconic classical works out there and all of it stems directly from the Norse!
As rock and traditional heavy metal rose, they stood out from other popular music through their more out-there and taboo themes and Norse tales fit into this rather neatly. The classic rocker/metalhead with the appropriately rebellious attitude shares plenty of similarities with a stereotypical Viking after all. Starting with the iconic Immigrant Song by the immortal Led Zeppelin singing tales of journeying to Valhalla on a longboat across frigid turbulent seas, the Norse box had been opened and seemingly everyone was hooked and couldn’t get enough of it. The thirst for conquest was already there and it needed quenching.
Vikings and Norse mythology however would soon become a favourite topic for heavy metal as a whole and ground zero for this phenomenon is fairly easy to find – Sweden’s relentless pioneers Bathory! After spawning black metal into existence, they released an album called Blood Fire Death in 1988, where they exchanged their occult and demonic lyrics for ones about Odinism, questing, epic battles and Scandinavian history before Christianisation. Initially, they played a hard hitting noisy style of black metal before transitioning into a more melodic, riff driven and epic sound that would become the foundation of so called Viking metal. Bathory displayed their culture and history proudly and this banner inspired many to join the horde!
Naturally, the first pioneers of Norse themes in metal would come from the ancestral homelands of the Vikings. The other leaders of this warband were my favourites, ones I’ve talked about so many times – Norwegian masters Enslaved! Taking inspiration from Bathory, they pivoted their own progressive black metal sound into a more folk driven epic direction and told grand tales from Norse mythology, both to showcase the awesome stories to be found in these archaic legends, but also to use these mythical ideas as a lens through which to examine deeper philosophical topics about life as a whole, something that remains the bread and butter of Enslaved’s lyricism to this day. They even famously have a song about the Battle of Lindisfarne, the oft agreed upon dawn of the Viking age, the same way they became the dawn of the Viking metal age! Since then, if there is a metal band singing about Vikings, I can almost guarantee you they got the idea from Bathory or Enslaved. They were the North Star guiding everyone to their destiny!
Being that the two pioneering bands were also early adopters of Scandinavian black metal, it’s only natural that similar bands would remain the early adopters of this sound. A newfound love and appreciation for their culture and history was spreading amongst the youth and they used this extreme rebellious music to sing anthems about these very things. Thus, dark atmospheric tremolo echoed across the fjords like the northern wind and black metal became a bastion of new Viking appreciation, something it remains today.
This was just the beginning though and the Scandinavian youth were far from done. They knew that Viking blood coursed through their veins and their hearts yearned for battle, to earn their spot in Valhalla! And what better (peaceful) way than with some powerful death metal! After all, it had been pioneered in Sweden slightly before black metal was and it too had spread like wildfire. While the black metal bands focused on the darkness and melancholy, death metal bands ravaged the land, conquering all in their wake with unfiltered intensity! Special shoutout has to go to the pioneers from Unleashed, who were not only one of the founding fathers of Swedish death metal, but were among the first to embrace Viking legends and Norse folklore as their core lyrical theme!
Naturally, you can’t talk about Viking themed Swedish death metal without mentioning the undisputed kings of it all – Amon Amarth! These fierce berserkers have established themselves as the biggest act in the movement and their violent yet glorious tales of Viking conquest and deep dives into the stories of the Eddas have proved immensely influential. And how could they not? Musically, Amon Amarth are among the best melodic death metal bands out there, combining the pure unfiltered fury of vintage death metal with incredibly heart touching melodies and rock solid songwriting. Add in the insanely catchy lyrics delivered by the deep booming growl of the monstrous Johan Hegg and you have a brew that anyone falls in love with the moment they taste it. In fact, I would go as far as saying that Amon Amarth have contributed greatly to the overall growth in popularity of Vikings in pop culture overall!
Being that all these topics originate in folklore and mythology, there’s one style that seems a most natural fit – folk metal! It’s energetic and catchy tunes work perfectly both for intense battles and raiding and for the downtime in between where the Norsemen can enjoy some mead and company in their lodge. This is also where the Finns love to chime in, the pioneers of folk metal that they are. While they are not of Viking heritage or Scandinavian, the vibe and tone is much the same and alongside the Prose and Poetic Edda, the Finnish Kalevala collection of folk tales is a common source of inspiration for many!
A special shoutout has to go to the Finnish titans from Turisas, who focus a lot of their discography on a more obscure Viking subfaction known as the Varangians. These adventurers travelled by river from their homeland up north all the way down to Constantinople where they established relations with the Byzantine empire. This goes to explain why you can find Norse runes inscribed on the walls of the Hagia Sophia. A lot of them stuck around afterwards and even became armed militia for the Emperors, forming the Varangian Guard!
Power metal of course didn’t lag behind. If there’s epic tales of glorious battle to tell, they will be the first on the frontlines! The fact that many Scandinavian countries but especially Sweden are among the primordial grounds for power metal definitely helped get the boat out of port too.
Norway, Sweden and Denmark would remain the main hotspot for Viking metal, but it wouldn’t take long before their brethren across the seas heard the call to battle! Far flung Iceland would contribute greatly to the movement, bringing a more raw and pure sound, taking advantage of the fact that their language, thanks to geographic isolation, has actually remained much closer to Old Norse than any of the other ones. The small but potent Faroe Islands likewise can be heard, especially thanks to proggy folk metal masters Tyr who have achieved massive success and shown the great versatility and variety that can be had within the Viking sound.
Another great example of this variety are Swedish power trio Grand Magus. They also sing about their native history and culture, but sound wise are a stoner-tinged groovy metal act with lots of blues and rock and roll influence to boot. A catchy and upbeat sound punctuated by their frontman’s infectious vocal delivery, they are one of the most unique bands in the sphere! Remember, lyrical themes do not define genres and it’s always good to know that no matter what music you like, there’s probably a Norse tune for your taste too.
Just like their ancestors did in centuries past, the Viking sound was spreading farther and farther and conquering the world. The sound of the Gjallarhorn reached far and soon, distant relatives all over Europe felt their Nordic genes awaken and knew they needed to heed this call! The epic symphonic/folk bards Equillibrium and the enigmatic and dark folk/black metal lords Falkenback from Germany. The twin voiced folk metal powerhouse Heidevolk from the Netherlands. The atmospheric pagan revivalists Wodensthrone from England. All of these are just some examples of the wider Norse-influenced diaspora that have added their own spin on Odinist legends and seek to remind their countrymen of their Viking heritage.
However, the conquest wouldn’t stop there. Just like they did long ago, the Vikings were never content with just questing around Europe. Soon, you can find bands all over the world singing their own epic tales of Norse legend and joining the warband, This time however, not out of duty to their own heritage as culturally they have nothing to do with the Norsemen, but just to show respect and admiration for these stories and the legacy of the Viking age. And also because the Viking aesthetic is just plain cool. I mean, can you blame them? I’m here talking about and obsessing about Vikings too so I can just go ahead and add myself to this list too!
The most famous Viking larpers have to be the American power metal legends Manowar! While a bunch of mostly Italian-Americans from New York have seldom to do with Nordic heritage, they definitely have absolute love for it and have done wonders spreading it across the globe. Granted, it was more so the Conan the Barbarian pastiche of Vikings but the point still stands. They have birthed some of the most epic metal hymns ever made, they are the loudest band in existence and whatever happens, they have proven themselves worthy to lift Mjolnir and carry it with pride!
But if it’s maximum authenticity we strive for, then the newly risen movement of Nordic neo-folk is where we must go. In the last decade or so, new acts have popped up with the goal of preserving European folklore and traditional music in the most authentic way possible. The songs they make are usually a mix of adapted traditional ones and new ones in the old style. The spearhead of this movement is the brilliant Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Einar Selvik and his army known as Wardruna. They present ancient Norse tales in a deep and genuine manner that takes us back millennia to the paths taken by our ancestors. The emotions these songs evoke are difficult to put into words.
The multi-national project Heilung go even more primitive. With only crude, hand-made instruments and lyrics found etched into ancient stone, they present a savage and primal aspect of humanity through the lens of the people of the North. They awake something within us that we though was forgotten, for these songs live in our genetic memory and it’s truly a magical thing to unlock them again.
The German group Faun go for a more cosmopolitan approach, pulling from various European folkore including Norse, Celtic, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Slavic and more to create an authentic image of ancient cultures across the old continent, sung in the original language and with the appropriate instruments. Despite this, their dances of life and legend are sure to be understood by anyone, no matter where you come from.
Beyond that, there are countless other bands worth exploring from all corners of the globe, but the Scandinavian movement remains the most active and the most invested. The global popularity of Viking culture has also granted them great success as the more curious among us strive to find something more real and authentic to immerse ourselves in archaic Viking tales.
If however you want to immerse yourself more literally, then games and film are your way to go and Vikings of course are a staple there. There have been plenty of films and TV shows on the topic and the horned helmets, historically inaccurate as they may be, have become a pop culture staple. Video games wouldn’t be far behind and experiences of varying degrees of authenticity allowing you to take the role of a mighty Viking, questing across the nine realms and slaying enemies in the name of your gods, are all over the place, ready to set sail! You may also see a certain Einar Selvik appear around here too.
But not matter how long and glorious an adventure is, you always have to come back to home shores eventually, so let’s do that. I personally love Vikings and I find Norse mythology deeply fascinating. All the pop culture around both those things show that I’m far from alone. Everything about them seems to have this innate appeal. Perhaps there’s something deep within us that always yearns for adventure, sailing the treacherous seas and conquering foreign lands. Or maybe it’s the perception of freedom and chaos that Vikings bring that makes them so appealing. In any case, it’s just a lot of good fun and if nothing else, they have inspired a ton of great music that you are now welcome to explore. Sit by the campfire, pour yourself some mead and may your own tales be just as mighty and glorious!
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Until we meet again in the Great Hall up high!
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