Heilung's live performances are the stuff of legend: transcendental events as capable of bridging millennia as modern demographic gulfs. Ritualistic chants and the steady, relentless beat of primal percussion resonate through your bone marrow, while the band and their extended cast of musicians, dancers and players don shamanic garb and wield rune-carved instruments, looking for all the world like they’ve risen from the nearest burial mound.
There’s something inarguably ‘right’ about the Nordic folk act performing at a venue as earthy and ancient as Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Recorded in 2021, the material is split between 2015 debut Ofnir and 2019’s Futha, with tracks such as Alfadhirhaiti, Krigsgaldr and the ever-epic Hamrer Hippyer sounding fearsomely accomplished. Maria Franz’s extraordinary vocal performances are perfect, while the crisp, rich audio captures every perfectly placed note, from the subtlest glottal mutter to the lightest ‘tock!’ as hollow bones are lightly tapped together.
Such is the band’s hypnotic power that you could almost believe it wasn’t a live recording; there’s little rowdiness, just periodic roars of approval, and these could as easily be the cheers of shield-beating warriors praying for victory as 10,000 Americans holding aloft cups of lukewarm Coors Light.
It’s impossible to fully translate the pageantry and ritual intensity of the Heilung live experience – particularly since the film documenting the performance comes out at a later date – but Lifa Iotungard does its damnedest to immerse you in the rite. And, for those questioning the need for a second, not entirely dissimilar live set from the band, it’s worth considering the journey taken between 2017’s debut Castlefest recording and this performance. Road-tested and battle-hardened, Heilung have become a bona fide phenomenon.
Lifa Iotungard (Live At Red Rocks) is out this Friday, August 9
