When my good friends in Ulvhedner and Blodørn were set to headline a brand new festival in their hometown Sauda, I was obligated to attend! So I put on my Heavys and drove two hours deep into the Norwegian fjords to experience the festival at first hand.
The festival took place in their small hometown of Sauda, which has around 4,500 inhabitants, seemingly with an above average of them being metalheads. This inaugural event was hosted at the local culture house, Folkets Hus. They opted for the smaller of the two stages, and with approximately 220 attendees securing tickets, it was a sold-out show.
As you enter the building, you’re greeted by a cozy sushi restaurant, with the stage just next door. After all, there’s nothing quite like enjoying raw fish, sipping cold beer, and listening to Norwegian black metal with your friends.
Blodørn
Blodørn shares two of the founding members of Ulvhedner, Arild and Svein Terje. They are accompanied by Jan Thore who is a fellow band mate of Svein Terje and Ulvhedners Bjørnar in another common project called Grillfeast. Blodørn and the small and tight knit metal community in Sauda recently lost their dear friend Jone C. Hoftun. He was the second guitarist in Blodørn, as well as active in other projcets. This whole night was therefore dedicated to honouring his memory.
The band took to the candle-lit stage, dressed in similar black denim vests with the bands blood eagle logo on the back. In the very left corner of the stage they had placed Jone’s guitar, a true metal way of paying their final respect to their fallen comrade.
Svein Terje on the drums kicked off the attendees hats with trembeling force. Deep sounding hits on the drum kit was felt all the way in my chest. Arild on both guitars and vocals was a very nice experience for me as I’ve not seen him on vocals before. Blending some cleaner vocals with his heavy accent in the gutteral vocal style is refreshing in the sea of other vocalists. His style reminds me of those done by Fenriz in his Isengard project.
Arild & Jan Thore’s bass and guitar worked great togeter, delivering groove and melody in abundance, forcing even the most stubborn of some of locals perhaps not used to this kind of metal to headbang along. The venue got hot quickly and it was packed from wall to wall with metalheads, locals, friends and family, during this sold out show.
With special guests on vocals for two of the songs, last song surprisingly beeing an Emperor cover enhanced their set and made alot of devoted, dark-clothed metalheads happy!
Ulvhedner
Jan Rune, the drummer of Ulvhedner took to the stage in a dark hoodie, wielding a chainsaw around stage to clear the enterance for the rest of the band. The themes of Ulvhedner are rural Norwegian farming, and the lifestyle of their grandparents generation, so the band enters the stage dressed in knitted sweaters, suspenders and backpacks, making it seem they’ve just returned from a long days work in the mountains.
The band opened with their popular track Arbeid i Skogen from the 2023 album Fjosmetall (Barnmetal). Vocalist Bjørnar has gotten comfortable on stage and enganges with playful comments to the crowd. While Ove was having some technical issues with his guitar, the band members Steinar and Jan Rune kept the audience engaged with some crowd pleasing beats while the sound issues was sorted.
With the variety of tracks to choose from their backlog they played such bangers as En Storm Der Ute, Svartavatn and Gravhaugen the band also performed a brand new song titled Snøen Danser i Vintersol which vocalist Bjørnar hinted could be found on upcoming album maybe due later this year.
Ulvhedner also honoured Jone, dedicating their song Ein Krigar Fallen til Jord (A warrior fallen to the Ground) making it a special ending of their set as a lot of Jone’s friends and family was in attendance.
The crowd were getting more and more pumped through the set as beer after beer got devoured. Torwards the end of the their set the amount of beer pouring or falling to the ground were of greater amount than what was actually consumed, but this only added to the good mood and frenzy.
Conclusion
For the first ever metal festival hosted in Sauda, it’s safe to say Heimfall Metallkraft was a major sucess. A sold-out night with four bands playing, a lot of beer consumed and everyone from metalheads to the bands grandmothers attended with smiles and laughter all around.
Blodørn and Ulvhedner both played great shows, as well did opening act Bråtsverk and closer Takras. If you get the chance to see the black metal bands Blodørn and Ulvhedner live than go for it! Both are a fresh breeze with original ideas and a clear identity in a scene filled with a lot of similar bands.
Check out Blodørn performing Emperor’s I Am The Black Wizards at Heimfall here:
Gallery
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