ALBUM REVIEW: LIFA Iotungard – Heilung
Performing rituals that hark back to the ancient European past, the pioneers of amplified history HEILUNG have had a meteoric rise in the decade since their inception. With a unique and innovative sound that evades all conventional genre tags, HEILUNG have an innate ability to weave mystical vocal melodies with primordial rhythms, emotive passages on a variety of folk instruments, and earthy throat singing. As a result, their music has enabled people to connect in more ways than one, fuelling a sense of kinship between fans.
In 2024 they have taken their ritual to the festival sites of Roskilde (Denmark), Download and Glastonbury – the latter two being the UK’s premier music festivals. Their music has even appeared in popular TV shows such as Game Of Thrones and Vikings, giant video games like Conqueror’s Blade VII: “Wolves Of Ragnarök” and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and the blockbuster Robert Eggers film The Northman.
HEILUNG’s new live album LIFA Iotungard takes place in 2021, when the band travelled to the US and performed to a sold-out crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Just as people wanted to connect with other humans in a spiritual capacity again post-COVID, their ritual at Red Rocks couldn’t have come at a better time. Performing a selection of songs from their first album and at the time their recently released sophomore effort Futha, LIFA Iotungard is a captivating and mesmeric performance that transcends the present and connects you with a tangible, ancient past.
“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” echoes around the Red Rocks Amphitheatre at the beginning of the ritual, a unifying statement that automatically connects you to something bigger as the first notes of In Maidjan begin to build. If there is one thing that HEILUNG constantly accomplish with every release it is an all-encompassing atmosphere and a strong sense of place.
LIFA Iotungard effortlessly transports you to the liminal space between the past and the present, much like the band’s studio albums. You can feel your soul shift and yearn for a more animistic world, one where the loneliness and isolation of the modern age melts away, and we’re all connected in accordance with nature and the natural, primordial rhythms of the human psyche. Throughout the band’s performance there is a tangible, positive and hypnotic energy that transcends the recording. The deep bass of the drum rhythms, the reverberating vocals and the soft percussion provided by things such as animal bones and rattles creates a space in which your inner spirit can meditate, dance and chant along, releasing the stresses and strains of modern life.
This snapshot of a past performance feels surprisingly present, as fresh as if the ritual had taken place yesterday. This is a testament to HEILUNG’s ability to write songs that transcend time and seemingly effortlessly bring them alive in the live environment. The exemplary production of LIFA Iotungard allows you to feel the weight of every drum hit, the raspiness of Kai Use Faust’s throat singing and the ethereal melodies of Maria Franz’s vocals and every small minutiae with exceptional clarity. Whether it is coming through headphones or stereo speakers, the ritual engulfs you and controls your body. It is no joke that music has a healing ability and HEILUNG master it with this performance. Once the album is finished, your body feels lighter, powered up with ritualistic energy and liberated from the oppressive weight of modern society.
The performance has a natural flow, with shorter more momentous tracks mingled in with the elaborate ritual tracks and ethereal soundscapes. The aforementioned In Maidjan gets the ritual started with a gradual build up and a deep, pounding rhythm. This helps you arrive spiritually and gets you into the groove of the ritual. This is followed by the intense Alfadhirhaiti, which begins with wolf howls and ritual bells before building into a war chant. Krigsgaldr, Hakkerskaldyr and Svanrand have a similar vibe, putting you firmly in the action with chanting and primordial rhythms. The second half of the album moves into gentler tracks such as Norupo and Othan. Mesmeric lead single Traust is the highlight of the second half as the unison chanting gives you shivers after a long, atmospheric build up. The album closes with spirit freeing dance-like tracks Elddansurin and Hamrer Hippyer, the final chance to liberate yourself and give into the ritualistic, primordial side of your soul.
Words can never really do justice to HEILUNG’s music; LIFA Iotungard is a prime example of that. A momentous moment in time captured exquisitely to be relived over and over again, this is an album that has to be experienced and is essential listening for those wanting to connect with something bigger than themselves.
Rating: 9/10
LIFA Iotungard is set for release on August 9th via Season Of Mist.
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